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Wild and Domestic Cats
by vremde kattan
http://www.strangecats.com
The Egyptians were the first to domesticate the cats. That
was about five hundred years ago and the first pet cat was
probably the African wildcat. These cats were slightly
larger than the domestic cats of today and they were used
to protect Egypt's granaries from mice and other rodents.
The Egyptians discovered that a kitten raised by humans grew
into an adult cat with no natural fear of humans - that's
how easy it was to domesticate the cat! The domestic cat
changed over the years of living with human's and among
other things, a household cat has a brain thirty percent
smaller than it's wild relatives because it doesn't need to
be anything like so alert.
All cats, dogs, bears, foxes and other similar predators
are believed to have a common ancestor. That was the Miacis
that lived about fifty million years ago on the trees. It
hunted other animals and became extinct long ago. Five
million years before the Miacis, predator called the
Dinicitis lived on the planet and it was very much like the
cat that we have today.
Cats in the wild are considered in three groups by size -
small, medium and large. Cats kept as pets have all been
bred from the wild small cats like the African Wildcat.
Medium cats include the Bobcat and the Asian Golden Cat.
The large cats are the most remarkable. People mistakenly
believe the lion to be the largest. The largest cat is the
tiger. The tiger often weighs more than 700 pounds and is a
man-eater. It is found in the swamps and the tropical
climate of Asia. This wonderful species is, however, an
endangered one.
The cheetah is another big cat and the fastest land animal
on Earth. It is in reality a sprinter and cannot be beaten
over short distances and can sprint as fast as sixty miles
an hour.
All the animals of the cat family are known to be
independent. The cats look after their young only as long
as it is necessary. Unlike these cats the lion is a social
animal. It normally moves in groups and has an extended
family.
One characteristic, which is common to all cats, is that
they love to sleep. They seem to prefer sitting and
digesting food rather than hunting for it. They sleep for
over sixteen hours a day.
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