Do you know cats? The most comprehensive introduction to cats (1)
Do you know cats? The most comprehensive introduction to cats (1)
Pet cats are animals that people raise to eliminate loneliness or for entertainment purposes. Pet cats can be regarded as a perfect animal, and nature arranges it perfectly: cats are good-looking, fulfill their duties, live independently, do not depend on their owners, contribute more and ask for less. The cat's sensory organs are extremely perfect, and it can always respond keenly to its surrounding environment. All cats are born with noble characteristics. The domestic cat lineage prides itself on being the stealthiest, keenest, most dangerous, prettiest and bravest mammals on earth. Compared with pumas, cats are very docile, but unlike other domesticated animals such as dogs, cats still have a slightly wild, independent and uninhibited taste of the past.
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History
Domestic pet cats are domesticated from wild cats after a long period of human breeding. There are many theories about the ancestral origin of cats, two of which are more common. One kind of view thinks that the ancestor of the wild cat is the same as the ancestor of the dog, which is a long-extinct animal-the ancient cat beast, and another view thinks that the ancestor of the cat is an early mammal that existed at the same time as the dinosaur and witnessed the extinction of the dinosaur , but none of these claims have been conclusively confirmed. What is certain is that around three million years ago, the genetics of the cat family began to be established, and all cats gradually evolved. The ancestor of the Asian domestic cat was the Indian desert cat, and the ancestor of the European domestic cat was the African lynx. During the Pliocene Ice Age, cats were already wild animals with footprints everywhere. Cats were actually domesticated fairly late, around 5,000 years ago. The young cats of African wild cats are easy to domesticate, and it is generally believed that this cat is likely to be the main ancestor of domestic cats. Ancient Egypt was the first area to raise cats, and ancient Egyptian women are likely to be the domesticators of cats. This period was about 5,000 years ago. Although the ancient Egyptians began to make friends with cats at this time, it was not until about 3,500 years ago that cats were truly domesticated as domestic cats. The ancient Egyptians regarded cats as the incarnation and symbol of the moon goddess. This is because the moon goddess Bastet is extremely powerful and is the god who is in charge of the moon, fertility and fruit harvest.
Certain living habits and physiological characteristics of cats, such as nocturnal sex, undisguised sex life and prolificacy, and catching mice to ensure a good harvest, coincided with the duties of Bastet, the goddess of the moon, and were naturally associated with The Moon Goddess is connected. Moreover, the image of the goddess of the moon is also depicted as a cat with a human body, and even the brother of the goddess of the moon, the sun god, is also depicted as a male cat. Due to the peculiarity of the cat's eyes changing with the light, it has the dual identity of the moon god and the sun god. Europeans became fond of cats after the Crusades. When the Crusades returned home, a group of mice were brought back by warships, and cats were also brought back to Europe. Rats multiplied in large numbers, causing massive epidemics of the dreaded hemorrhagic plague and cholera. Just when people were at a loss, they suddenly thought of cats, because cats can kill mice. So people began to artificially protect the cats, so that their numbers continued to increase. As the number of cats continued to increase, the mice were really subdued. Although cats made great military exploits for people, they were treated unfairly in the Middle Ages. The church accuses cats out of nothing, saying that cats and owls have very similar appearances, and believes that cats' creepy howling and flashing eyes at night are the incarnation of Satan, or the accomplice of the banshee. Pagan brutes allied with the devil. Under the instigation of the church, people also regard cats as the incarnation of the devil, who will bring disasters to people at any time, causing cats to suddenly turn from the lofty status of conquering the plague and worshiping cats as gods to representatives of evil and ominous. Animals are despised by people, and even killed insanely. Under the authority and encouragement of the church, people treated cats like unequal enemies, which greatly reduced the number of cats in the Middle Ages, almost on the verge of extinction. However, the reduction in the number of cats led to the proliferation of rats, and finally a terrible plague broke out in the 14th century, killing more than 25 million people in Europe. The villages and cities shrouded in death horror are full of dead bodies, and the death knell keeps ringing. This is a severe punishment by nature for human beings to destroy the ecological balance.
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Classification
It can be roughly divided into: Garfield cat, fold ear cat, short haired cat, Persian cat, Siamese cat, tabby cat, Jinjila, Bali cat, Berman cat, Bombay cat, Burmese cat, Egyptian cat, Maine Coon cat, Oxi cat , Ragdoll cat, Curly cat, Singaporean cat, Norwegian Forest cat, Fluorescent cat, Somali cat, Turkish Van cat, American Bobtail cat and other 42 varieties (according to the American CFA standard). Cats belong to Mammalia, Carnivora, and Felidae in zoological classification. Although humans have been domesticating cats for a long time, little work has been done on the improvement of cat breeds. The breeding and evolution of cats have been largely uncontrolled, and there are far fewer breeds of cats than other livestock and poultry species. Cats distributed around the world show little change in weight and length compared to their ancestors. According to reports, there are more than one hundred species of cats in the world today, and only 30-40 species are common in Tsukuda. The work of identifying and naming cat breeds in my country has not yet been carried out. Even if there is a preliminary classification of breeds, it lacks scientific basis.
There are several ways to classify cat breeds:
1. environmental taxonomy. According to the ecological environment, it is divided into domestic cats and wild cats. Domestic cats refer to cats domesticated and raised by humans; wild cats refer to wild animals that survive independently in wild environments such as mountains and deserts. But there is no strict boundary between domestic cats and wild cats, because domestic cats are not highly domesticated, they do not completely depend on humans, and they still have the instinct to survive independently. Once they leave humans, they can quickly adapt to life in the wild And wild. Especially in rural areas, some domestic cats will not come home for several days or months, especially during the estrus period, in order to find a mate, sometimes domestic cats will run away from home and become wild cats.
2. Variety Taxonomy. From the perspective of breed breeding, it can be divided into purebred cats and hybrid cats. Purebred cats are carefully bred artificially for a certain purpose. At least four generations of stable inheritance can be successful. The genetic performance of this kind of cat is relatively stable, and the characteristics of the offspring are very similar to those of their parents. Every cat has a pedigree, including pedigree certificates, breed record cards, sex, age, size characteristics, etc. Purebred cats have strict breeding procedures, and it is absolutely forbidden to mate with hybrid cats to avoid breed variation. Hybrid cats are breeds that are not under human control and allowed to reproduce and develop naturally, and the genetic stability of their offspring is very unstable. Even kittens from the same litter can have different colors or other distinctive features.
3. Origin classification. This classification method is widely popular in the West, and cat breeds are divided into Western breeds and foreign breeds according to their origin. Strictly speaking, this classification method has strong scientific nature, and it is named according to the place where the cat breed was formed. The naming of cat breeds popular in the world is mainly based on this classification method. For example, Thai cat originated in Thailand; Burmese cat originated in Myanmar. Although this classification has strong scientific nature, its irrationality is also obvious. For example, the United States has only a history of more than 200 years, so the so-called American species is not the original species of the United States. American cat lovers have played a considerable role in promoting it.
4. Coat taxonomy. According to the length of the cat coat, cats can be divided into long-haired cats and short-haired cats. Long-haired cats are characterized by a long coat covering the whole body. Common long-haired cats include Persian cats, Balinese cats, Himalayan cats, Maine Coon cats, Barman cats, and Angora cats. Short-haired cats refer to cats whose coat is close to the skin and have a clear outline, including Thai cats, Egyptian cats, and Abyssian cats.