Why can t humans completely tame cats?
There is a saying that describes the difference between cats and dogs: if you provide food, shelter, and protect them every day, then in the eyes of dogs, you must be God, otherwise how could you be so kind to yourself. But cats don’t think so. They think they must be God, otherwise how could humans be so nice to them?
In the eyes of cats, humans may be just a long-term meal ticket. They will not completely obey humans, but will still maintain a relatively high degree of independence.
Like dogs, cats are also one of the animals that are most closely connected with humans, and they are accompanied by humans as emotional companionship. In ancient Egypt, people not only raised cats as pets, but even made mummies for them after they died.
Now, there are more and more cat breeders, but have you ever wondered why cats can stay in human society? More importantly, the history of humans domesticating cats has reached tens of thousands of years, but has humans really successfully domesticated cats?
Why do cats live with humans?
In the Paleolithic Age, humans began to domesticate various animals and plants, among which the first domesticated animal was dogs. Their ancestors would look for food near human camps, and humans would throw away endless bones around the camps, so that some individuals with poor hunting abilities would wander near humans.
Later, humans caught some wolf, and ate larger ones and left smaller ones. In the process of getting along with humans, the young can provide humans with vigilance. Slowly, some individuals who were less aggressive and able to provide alert stayed and were domesticated into dogs by humans.
Compared with dogs, cats appearing in the human world does not look like humans’ active choice, but cats choose to live with humans.
The reason why humans domesticated cats was because human habit of hoarding food attracted mice, and the cat followed the mice to the camp where humans lived and settled here. Humans discovered this skill of cats and began to spend time with them day and night, and even took the cat away when moving. A human remains dating from 9200 to 9500 years ago were discovered in Cyprus, and there is also the remains of a cat next to the remains.
(cats about 9500 years ago)
It may not be that strange that cats are buried next to humans today, but it should be noted that there are no other felines in Cyprus, which means that as early as 9200 years ago, humans had been with cats day and night and brought them here.
Some scientists believe that the reason why humans like cats and carry cats with them during migration may not be because of their ability to catch mice, but because they are very cute in themselves. Researchers believe that cats’ innocent big eyes, cute faces, and screams are very similar to human babies, which can stimulate human desire for protection and therefore stay with humans.
Compared with dogs, cats have more ambitions. By studying stray cats released to the wild, the researchers found that their hunting skills had not deteriorated and could still quickly enter the hunting mode and successfully captured many birds, amphibians, and small mammals.
After research by the Smithsonian Institute of Conservation Biology and the US Fisheries and Wildlife Service, it was found that in the United States alone, the number of birds and mammals killed by domestic cats and stray cats each year reached 2.4 billion and 12.3 billion each year, and the number of birds and mammals killed by cats exceeded the sum of non-human lethal factors.
The reason why cats have such strong predation ability is actually a surprise. It is important to know that they have been domesticated by humans for tens of thousands of years, but they have not lost their wildness like dogs, but have still retained excellent hunting ability. Of course, pet cats, which have been improved by human breeds, have lost their ability to survive independently, and they will soon die if they leave humans.
Experts believe that the reason why cats are like this may be related to their living alone. In fact, cats are an alternative to human domestication. All animals domesticated by humans are social creatures, even dogs are no exception. Only cats come and go alone. Except for mating periods, they rarely engage in activities with other cats. It is precisely because of the characteristics of living alone that cats can take care of themselves, including hunting ability.
It is precisely because of this that some experts say: it is not humans that domesticate cats, but cats choose to live with humans.
The cat owners today are no longer as arrogant as their previous domestic cats, and their hunting ability is almost zero. This is mainly because in order to get kittens with good appearance, pure fur, and clingy personality, humans constantly breed new breeds through backcrossing, hybridization and other means. Whether this breed has the ability to survive in the wild is not within their consideration. Under this breeding method, many cats nowadays have no ability to survive in the wild.
For example: Although the ragdoll cat is very fairy, its predatory ability is much different from pastoral cats; hairless cats cannot survive in cold environments, and if they are separated from humans, they are equivalent to death.
Of course, whether it is a breed or a pastoral cat, once you choose to raise them, do not abandon them, otherwise it will be harmful to cats and surrounding birds, mammals, etc.
