How Cats Used Humans to Conquer the World

Ahh the cat.
At the least they couldn't care less if you live or die, at best are cuddly cute companions that are amazing "pets". But they have not always been our pet. They came crawling up to the farms around 10,000 years ago with the mass growing of grain crops. The cats loved the large vermin that fed off of the grains.

Sometime around the invention of agriculture, the cats came crawling. It was mice and rats, probably, that attracted the wild felines. The rats came because of stores of grain, made possible by human agriculture. And so cats and humans began their millennia-long coexistence.

www.theatlantic.com...

They killed mice and rats that carried things like the Black Plaque, and Ancient Middle Eastern people took them from place to place. And before we know it they are knocking over trash cans all over the world and crapping in kids sand boxes. DNA from ancient cat mummies was studied, and it found the kitty kitty is a Middle Eastern native.

This relationship has been good for us of course—formerly because cats caught the disease-carrying pests stealing our food and presently because cleaning up their hairballs somehow gives purpose to our modern lives. But this relationship has been great for cats as species, too.
A comprehensive new study of DNA from ancient cat skeletons and mummies spanning 9,000 years traces the spread of cats from the Middle East to the rest of the world. The whole study, from conception to publication, took about 10 years—not least because of the work it took to find ancient cat remains.

But make no mistake the cat remains as old as 9,000 years are hard to come by. Mainly because no one was eating them on a regular basis. So they were not tossed into ancient trash piles. The subject cats in the study are from archeological digs including Egyptian cat mummies.

“Cat remains are scarce,” says Eva-Maria Geigl, a paleogeneticist at Institut Jacques Monod and an author on the study. We don’t eat cats for food, so their bones don’t end up in ancient trash piles the way pig or chicken bones do. Geigl and her colleagues, especially Wim Van Neer, wrote to museums and collections asking to sample cat remains found in archeological digs. The team ultimately got bone, teeth, or hair from 352 ancient cats—including Egyptian cat mummies at the British Museum.

a reply to: seasonal

They haven't conquered the world, they have no need to own it like that.

Food, and door openers is all they need to rule with their strange magic.

a reply to: nerbot

The only complaints they have is their crap keeps disappearing out of the litter box.

a reply to: seasonal my cat "Tesla" go figure, was found as a kitten near a fabrication shop near my shop. It would not let me get but a few feet away. a year later this cute cuddly creature has plotted a takeover, rearranging the furniture, hiding my cell phone and keys. I know he has been posting on ATS using my password and name, well, his name in part. I have a suspicion that he has created a new account and may be mocking my posts and entertained by my reactions. I could see cats ruling the world, they could do no worse than the bozos running it now, But what will they do with the dogs? fire hydrants, and dog shows????

a reply to: seasonal

My cat has never had a litter box, just an open window and freedom. Brings me rats tails as presents, leaves them by the bin in the kitchen. Hard as nails my cat.

originally posted by: nerbot
a reply to: seasonal

They haven't conquered the world, they have no need to own it like that.

Food, and door openers is all they need to rule with their strange magic.

They conquered our hearts...

Picked one up from the shelter in october after feeling the pain of turning 30 , had some doubts at first but looking back i could not make a better choice.

a reply to: teslahowitzer

Cats are the only animals that has almost no interest in us, and we continue to try please them. You buy them a new toy and all they do is barely look at it and walk away with a disinterested look on their face.

a reply to: seasonal

No animal can show such total disgust, distance and disdain as a cat can simply by looking elsewhere when you have displeased one.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: teslahowitzer

Cats are the only animals that has almost no interest in us, and we continue to try please them. You buy them a new toy and all they do is barely look at it and walk away with a disinterested look on their face.

That's very incorrect. Ask most cat owners, will tell you way different. In fact a new study had said that cats do well in smaller spaces along with humans as it makes for better communication. Cats also have the same "love hormones" that humans and dogs do when being petted and shown general interest by their owners.

originally posted by: TheGreazel
Picked one up from the shelter in october after feeling the pain of turning 30 , had some doubts at first but looking back i could not make a better choice.

Grats on your adopted friend.

a reply to: Aliensun

Yep they will refuse to eat a piece of raw meat if you through it on the floor. And I have a feeling that they refuse to eat it because it is on the floor-where is the formal china?

a reply to: dreamingawake

Disagree, cats can be cuddly and interesting. But they are calculating and manipulative. Dogs with few exceptions are, well, dogs.

This is coming from someone who likes dogs and cats equally.

I don't believe that is true, just because we are servants to our cats and we have to clean their toilets does not mean that we do not have control over them.....OWWWW. I didn't realize cats could read.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: dreamingawake

Disagree, cats can be cuddly and interesting. But they are calculating and manipulative. Dogs with few exceptions are, well, dogs.

This is coming from someone who likes dogs and cats equally.

OK, that's enough. You're making me cry again. We just had to put our big ball of cuddle to sleep this morning, sudden brain tumor. He went down in less than a week.

Teddy only ever wanted to be where we were and see what we were doing and be a part of it. He's the only adult I've ever known who came into an established, multi-cat household and was perfectly at home with everyone in it in about 72 hours.

You malign my poor, dead friend and he can't even defend himself.

Dogs have masters.
Cats have servants.
We have one family cat. We been feeding this stray cat for year. Cone for food twice a day. But cant adapt him due to our cat hates him. And he disappeared month back. We all sad for while. We even went to look all over the place for him. Hopefully someone adapted him.

a reply to: ketsuko

I think there are exceptions to the rules, and it sounds like you have one.


I do not have an exception.
My cat will figure 8 your legs until his food dish is full.

My cat will figure 8 my legs when I am making coffee, he wants a spoonful of cream.

My cat will figure 8----nothing else, if there is nothing he wants, he washes his hands of the whole human race.

a reply to: seasonal
Not my cat, has raw bacon if I've forgotten to buy catfood. Always eats it.

a reply to: seasonal man, have you plotted your escape route yet? You can google artist like that if you are brave enough...