For a long time, the reasons why cats entered human society have been very confusing, because most animals were domesticated for good reasons, such as some livestock can be used as meat providers, and some can be used as laborers.

Have you ever wondered why humans keep cats? For a long time, the reasons why cats entered human society have been very confusing, because most animals were domesticated for good reasons, such as some livestock can be used as meat providers, and some can be used as laborers.

But cats don’t seem to stand out at all. Their meat is too little and not tasty, and they have little working ability. The key is that they almost only eat meat, and their attitude towards people is relatively cold. No matter from every aspect, cats are Not an ideal domestication target.

You might say that cats can catch mice and protect granaries. Isn’t that why we domesticated cats? It is true that cats catch mice, but there is a big contradiction here: if the cooperation between cats and humans is based on catching mice, then this cooperation is not a virtuous circle.

Let’s take dogs as an example. When humans and dogs cooperate, humans provide food for dogs, and dogs are responsible for guarding, hunting, being cute, and wagging their tails when they see humans. This kind of cooperation is a virtuous circle, and the relationship between humans and dogs will become better and better. Coming closer and closer.

But if it were a cat, the situation would be different. Cats have a broad diet, including birds, fish, rabbits, bats, lizards and even vegetarian foods. When humans keep cats around, they must provide them with food, and once cats are full, their desire to prey on mice will decrease.

In other words, the fuller you feed a cat, the less likely it is to hunt mice. Who would go to the trouble of catching mice when there is ready-made food? If the purpose of raising a cat is to catch mice, then in the long run, this means and the purpose are contrary to each other. The closer the relationship between people and cats, the less necessary it is to form this relationship.

So how were cats domesticated? Why do humans think cats are cute? Let’s talk about this topic below.

1. How were cats domesticated?

About 10,000 years ago, human agriculture had emerged, permanent villages appeared, and excess grain was stored. About 12,000 years ago, house mice evolved. They were attracted to villages by food, dug holes and built nests in villages, and stole the villagers' stored food.

A large number of rats have entered the human living environment, attracting a large number of wild cats to hunt, so people often see wild cats in the streets and alleys. These cats will not destroy villages or steal food. People may have a resigned attitude.

And when people discovered that cats preyed on mice and snakes, they encouraged these behaviors, and people even began to get close to cats. Some cats look very cute. Their big eyes, flat faces and furry brains are very in line with human aesthetic standards. Some people may take cats home because they look cute.

So who and where were the first to be unable to resist the temptation and take the wild cat home?

Indian wildlife geneticist Carlos Driscoll and his team collected 979 DNA samples from domestic and wild cats and conducted genetic analysis on these samples. The scientific research team divided these samples into 5 genetic "families", 4 of which corresponded perfectly to the 4 known wild cat subspecies, but these families are not related to domestic cats.

The fifth family includes not only wild cats, but also all domestic cats. This means that the wild cats in this family are most closely related to domestic cats and are probably the ancestors of domestic cats, and this family lives in the Middle East. Wild cat subspecies.

In addition, some studies have shown that domestic cats may have appeared in the Fertile Crescent 10,000 years ago (a narrow area from Iraq to Egypt through Turkey to Egypt). This The time coincides with the time and place the mice appeared.

Scientists have also connected archaeological discoveries about cats and imagined the route of cats' spread:

About 9,500 years ago, in a cemetery on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus not far from the Fertile Crescent, archaeologists A buried cat bone was found, but it could not be confirmed whether it belonged to a domestic cat. This is the earliest evidence of contact between humans and cats so far.

Cats were already very common in the Fertile Crescent about 3,700 years ago. Cat statues made of ivory unearthed from the ground can prove this; cats were introduced to Egypt about 3,600 years ago, and were deified 2,900 years ago, becoming the incarnation of the goddess Best, being supported and worshiped;

About 2000 years ago, cats had spread from the Middle East to the east and west ends of the Eurasian continent, including China, and were brought to the Americas and Australia by colonists about 400 to 500 years ago.

This transmission route seems to be perfect in terms of geography and time. However, in 2013, Chinese scientists published a paper in the famous " Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ", which questioned this conjecture. The

paper stated that the remains of domestic cats were discovered in the Yangshao Cultural Site in Shaanxi, China, more than 5,000 years ago, much earlier than the time when domestic cats were introduced to Egypt.

Chinese scientists said that at that time, early agricultural culture had been formed here, with millet cultivation and granaries, and there were also overrun house mice, which provided the prerequisites for the emergence of cats. And through the analysis of cat bones, it was found that the body shape of these cats is consistent with the characteristics of domestic cats, and they are far away from the distribution area of ​​Near Eastern night cats.

Not only that, scientists analyzed the remains of one of the cats and found that the proportion of meat in its food was much smaller than expected. The cats ate a lot of grain, which was obviously fed by humans.

In other words, the findings of Chinese scientists indicate that domestic cats in our country were probably not introduced along the ancient trade route. However, this is not enough to shake the conclusion that modern domestic cats originated in the ancient Middle East. After all, 5,000 years ago than 9,500 years ago It was much later, and the current evidence makes it difficult to tell what happened during these four thousand years.

To summarize: Cats may have first entered human villages to hunt mice, but humans got close to and domesticated cats because they were cute. Scientists have deduced the perfect transmission route of domestic cats from the archaeological discoveries of cats, but the discovery of Chinese scientists seems to provide another possibility. However, judging from the current evidence, domestic cats originated from the ancient Middle East. The ancestor may be African wild cat .

2. Why do humans think cats are cute?

We mentioned earlier that humans domesticated cats not mainly because they can catch mice. For example, a survey by an American agricultural association found that even in rural areas where there are many mice, cats are not active in catching mice. Only one-third of cats Catching mice. So in many farms with cats, mice are still rampant. Not to mention cats raised in urban areas, which are basically incapable of catching mice.

In addition, if humans have domesticated cats, they are essentially choosing the sexual characteristics they want by interfering with the mating of animals. For example, dogs, according to human needs, we have intervened in their reproductive process, so there have been various types of dogs, including hunting dogs, shepherd dogs, guide dogs, etc., so the size of dogs is different. Extremely large.

But what about cats? Although there are different varieties, there is generally no difference, and there is no functional differentiation. Because humans have very weak control over cats. Cats have a very strong sense of territory. If two strange cats are kept together, even if they are a male and a female, they will start fighting even if they are in estrus.

But as a result, there are about three times more cats than dogs worldwide, and people like cats more. On the Internet, content about cats is more likely to be reposted. According to statistics from Facebook and Twitter , the number of reposts for cat-related content is about twice that of dogs.

From this point of view, rather than saying that humans have domesticated cats, it is better to say that cats have domesticated humans, because humans are attracted by certain characteristics of cats. It is humans who take the initiative to approach cats, rather than humans transforming cats for their own needs. .

So what characteristics do humans like in cats? The answer is appearance. The cat’s appearance exactly meets all human definitions of “cute”! Don’t underestimate the “cuteness” feature. This is actually a set of special and powerful physical properties. Lorenz, the founder of animal behavior , once said that the characteristic of "cuteness" is called "pity for children triggering trait".

So why do humans think cats are cute? Cats are born to look like human babies because of their appearance. Their appearance triggers the release of hormones in us, making us love them like babies.

In 1949, Lorenz proposed the concept of "baby schema", believing that the cute qualities of babies can trigger the nurturing heart of adults and ensure that babies can be properly cared for by adults. This is an evolutionary mechanism that is exactly Because babies with "cute" characteristics are more likely to receive more care, they are all preserved, allowing humans to continue stably.

Scientific research shows that the cuteness of babies is reflected in their small body, fair skin, big eyes, round head, short nose and other characteristics. Such characteristics can more arouse adults' desire to care and protect. .

Let’s take a look at the characteristics of cats:

First of all, a cat weighs about 4 kilograms, and holding a cat feels about the same as holding a human newborn. A cat's meow can easily be associated with a child's cry. Some research even shows that during evolutionary history, cats may have deliberately adjusted their vocalizations to make their sounds more similar to those of human babies. As soon as a person hears a cat meowing, his love immediately overflows.

Secondly, cats’ heads and faces are round, their jaws are short, and their noses are small. These characteristics are similar to humans. This alone makes them cuter than most dogs. The most attractive thing about cats is their big eyes. How big are the cat’s eyes? The eyes of adult cats are about the same size as those of humans, and they look very juicy on a smaller cat’s face.

Not only that, the position of cats’ eyes is also similar to that of humans. The eyes of general animals are on both sides of the head, which allows them to have a wider field of vision, such as some herbivorous animals such as cows, horses, sheep, etc. But cats' eyes are located in the middle of the front of their heads, just like humans, which helps them focus better and accurately visually detect the distance of prey.

In addition, cats’ furry bodies are also very attractive to humans. You see, most people like plush toys, and humans usually have no resistance to such furry things.

So, the appearance characteristics of cats almost meet all human definitions of "cute". Their round heads and faces, big eyes, small noses, plus furry bodies and voices like babies crying , it’s hard not to feel affection for him.

3, Conclusion

Cats are the only animals domesticated by humans that do not have social concepts. Their lone ranger-like character makes them very strange in the matter of domestication, which makes people wonder whether it was humans who domesticated cats or cats. Domesticated humans.

Cats may have entered human society because they caught mice, but humans domesticated them not because of this, but because of their baby-like appearance that made humans take them home. Who can resist the cuteness of cats?

This is the introduction to this topic. If you have other opinions, please share them in the comment area below.