How does cats have been domesticated? Why do humans think cats are cute?

Have you ever wondered why humans raised cats? For a long time, the reason for cats to enter human society is very confusing, because most animals have sufficient reasons when they are domesticated. For example, some livestock can be used as meat providers, and some can be used as labor.

But the cat does not seem to be prominent. Its meat is too small and not delicious, and there is no ability to work. The key is that they almost only eat meat and have a cold attitude towards human. An ideal domestication object.

You may say that cats will catch mice and protect the granary. Didn't we domesticate cats because of this reason? Cats catch mice are indeed not false, but there is a big contradiction in it: the cooperation between cats and people is based on grabbing mice, then this cooperation is not a virtuous circle.

As an example, when we cooperate with dogs and dogs, humans provide food for dogs, and dogs are responsible for watching the door, hunting, selling cute, and seeing people shaking their tails. This cooperation is a virtuous circle. The closer.

But if you change it to a cat, the situation will be different. Cat's recipes are relatively wide, birds, fish, rabbits, bats, lizards and even vegetarian food, it eats. Humans will provide them with cats, and once their cats are full, their desire to prey in mice will decline.

That is to say, the more you feed the cat, the less you don't like to prey for mice. If you have ready -made food, who will work hard to catch mice. If a cat is to catch mice, then in the long run, this method and purpose are contrary to each other. The closer the relationship between the person and the cat, the lower the necessity of the relationship.

So how does cats have been domesticated? Why do humans think cats are cute? Let's talk about this topic.

1. How are cats domesticated?

About 10,000 years ago, human agriculture has risen, permanent villages have appeared, and excess grain has been stored. At about 12,000 years ago, the mouse evolved, and they were attracted to the villages by food, built a nest in the village, and stole the food of the villagers.

A large number of mice entered the environment of human life and attracted a large number of wild cats to prey, so people often see wild cats on the streets and alleys. These cats will not destroy the villages or eat food. People may be a kind of attitude.

When people find that cats prey in mice and snakes, they will encourage them to do these behaviors, and people even start to get close to cats. Some cats look very cute. Their big eyes, flat faces, and furry brain are very in line with human aesthetic standards. Some people may take them home because the cat's appearance is cute.

So who did not resist the temptation, and took the wild cat home?

Indian wildlife genetic expert Carlos Driskor and his team collected 979 DNA samples from domestic cats and wild cats, which conducted genetic analysis of these samples. The scientific research team divided these samples into 5 genetic "family departments", of which 4 family departments and 4 known wild cat sub -species corresponded to very perfect, but these family departments had nothing to do with family cats.

In the fifth home department, there are not only wild cats, but also all the cats, that is to say, the relationship between the wild cat and the cat in this family is likely to be the ancestor of the cat. subspecies.

In addition, some studies have shown that the cat may appear in the Crescent Moonwo Land 10,000 years ago (now from Turkey to a narrow area from Turkey to Egypt). This time is in line with the time and place of mice appearing.

Scientists also connected the archeological discovery of cats and imagined the route of cat dissemination:

About 9500 years ago, in the cemetery of Cyprus Island, the Mediterranean, which was not far from the Crescent, found, archaeologists discovered the burial cat bone, but it could not be confirmed whether it belonged to the family cat. The earliest evidence of contact with the cat,

About 3700 years ago, cats in the new moon are very common. Cat statues made of ivory unearthed in the place can prove this; about 3600 years ago, the cat passed to Egypt and at 2900 He was deified when he was a year ago, and became the incarnation of the goddess of Best, was supported and worshiped;

About 2000 years ago, cats have spread from the East and West East East and West East, including China, and about 400 ~ 500 years ago, the colonists brought to the Americas and Australia.

This communication route seemed perfect in geographical and time, but in 2013, Chinese scientists published a paper in the famous "Academy of Sciences" in the American Academy of Sciences, questioning this conjecture.

The paper stated that at more than 5,000 years ago, the remains of the cat were found in the Yangshao cultural site of Shaanxi, China. This time was much earlier than that of the family cats to Egypt.

Chinese scientists said that at the time, an early agricultural culture had been formed. With the planting and granary, there were also floods of domestic rats, and it had the prerequisite for cats. And through the analysis of cat bones, the body of these cats is found to be in line with the characteristics of the cat, and it is far from the distribution area of the near -Night cat.

Not only that, scientists analyzed the remains of one of the cats and found that the proportion of meat in its food was far less than expected. These cats ate a lot of food, and these foods were obviously fed by people.

In other words, the discovery of Chinese scientists shows that our family cats are likely to be passed on along the road of ancient trading, but this is not enough to shake the conclusion of modern family cats originated in the ancient Middle East. It is a lot late, and the current evidence is difficult to tell what happened in these 4,000 years.

To sum up: The earliest enters of cats may be to prey in mice, but humans are close and domesticated cats because they are cute. Scientists have pushed the perfect routes spread by cats from the archeological discovery of cats, but the discovery of Chinese scientists seems to provide another possibility, but in terms of the current evidence, the cat originates from the ancient Middle East. The ancestors may be African wild cats.

2. Why do humans feel that cats are cute?

As we mentioned earlier, human domestication cats are not because it can catch mice. For example, a survey by an agricultural association in the United States found that even in many rural areas of mice, cats catch mice. mouse. So in many farms that have cats, mice are still rampant. Not to mention cats raised in urban areas, they basically do not catch mice.

In addition, if humans have domesticated cats, then they essentially interfere with the mating of animals to choose the character they want. For example, dogs, according to human needs, we have involved in their reproductive process, so there are all kinds of dogs, such as hunting dogs, sheep dogs, and guide dogs, so the dog's body size is particularly large.

But what about cats? Although there are different varieties, there are generally no differences, and they cannot talk about functional differentiation. Because humans have weak control over cats. The cat's territory consciousness is particularly strong. If you close the two strange cats together, even if it is a male and one mother, even in the estrus period, they have to fight.

But as a result, the number of cats worldwide is about three times the number of cats, and people like cats more. On the Internet, the content of cats is more likely to be reposted. According to Facebook and Twitter statistics, the content of the cat's content is about twice the dog.

From this point of view, rather than the domestication of cats, it is better to say that cats have domesticated humans, because humans are attracted by some characteristics of cats. It is humans to approach cats, not humans to transform cats for their own needs.

So what are the characteristics of human beings who fancy cats? The answer is face value, and the appearance of cats is exactly in line with all the definitions of human beings of "cute"! Don't underestimate the characteristics of "cuteness", this is actually a set of special and powerful physical characteristics. Lorenz, the pioneer of animal behavior, said that the characteristic of "cute" is called "pity trigger characteristics".

So why do humans feel that cats are cute? Because of the appearance characteristics of cats, it is natural to look like human babies. Its appearance will trigger us to release hormones and let us love them like a baby.

In 1949, Lorenz proposed a concept of "baby graphic", thinking that the cuteness of the baby can cause adults to raise the heart of adults and ensure that babies can be properly taken care of by adults. This is a evolution mechanism. Because babies with "cute" characteristics are easier to get more care, all are retained, so that humans can continue.

Scientific research shows that the cuteness of the baby is reflected in the small body, fair skin, large eyes, round heads, and short nose. This characteristic can better arouse the desire to take care of and protect the desire to take care of adults.

Let's take a look at the characteristics of the cat:

First of all, a cat's weight is about 4 kg, and the cat is similar to the cat and holding a human newborn. The cat's cry is easy to remind people of children's cry. Some studies have shown that in the history of evolution, cats may have specially adjusted their own voice for a while, making sounds more similar to human babies. As soon as a man heard the cat, his love was flooded immediately.

Secondly, the cat's head and face are round. Their jaws are short and their noses are small. These characteristics are similar to humans. This is more cute than most dogs. And the most attractive part of the cat is big eyes. How big is the cat's eye? The eyes of adult cats are about the same as that of humans, and it looks very wise on the smaller cat's face.

Not only that, the position of the cat's eyes is similar to humans. The eyes of ordinary animals are on both sides of the head, which can make their vision more open, such as some herbivores, horses, sheep, etc. But the cat's eyes grow in the middle of the front of the head, just like humans, which is conducive to their better focus and accurately visually inspect the distance of the prey.

In addition, cat's furry body is also very attractive to humans. You see most people like plush toys, and humans usually have no resistance to such furry things.

Therefore, the appearance of cats almost meets all the definitions of human beings for "cute". Their round heads and faces, big eyes, small noses, plus the sound of furry body and baby crying sound, It makes people feel pity.

3. End language

Cats are the only animals of human domestication without social concepts. Their lonely personality makes them look strange to domestication, making people doubt whether humans have domesticated cats or cat domestication.

Cats may be because they caught mice into human society, but human domestication is not because of this, but because their infant -like looks allowed to hold them home. Who can resist the cuteness of cats?