Like me, you probably have a cat obsession. How come humans are so drawn to these creatures?
You might have owned a cat or, more likely, been owned by one. Even when they’re annoying, cats may bring delight, as you are aware. Why do cats manage to enthrall us with their charm and win our hearts?
Domestication, what it means?
When an animal is domesticated, its genetic composition is altered through selective breeding to improve the traits and behaviors that people find appealing. House cats have been tamed, but only to a limited extent because of human selective breeding (pure breeding began only 200 years ago). A recent study has shown that the majority of house cats are developed through the uncontrolled breeding of feral and free-roaming cats and that only a small percentage of cats mate with partners that humans choose for them.
How cats domesticated themselves
House cats still share a lot more genetic characteristics with their wild ancestors than do domesticated dogs, as the most recent cat genome mapping revealed. However, the distinctions between domestic cats and wild cats give significant light on the evolution of human-cat interactions.
Genes that affect reward-seeking behavior and how the body reacts to fear are among the areas with the greatest genetic variation. Scientists believe that when grain production spread across the Fertile Crescent about 9,000 years ago, wild cats started coming into contact with people more frequently as they hunted the rodent populations that swarmed granaries during harvests. Farmers likely responded by rewarding those cats that stuck around with food scraps.
Why cats won the internet?
It’s difficult to determine the exact reason why cats continue to be so hilarious, but something about their attitude is clearly ripe for spoofing.
Of course, videos of dogs also become viral. Yet the norm is supported by the exceptions. Nobody uploads videos to YouTube showing off how friendly, obedient, or guilty-looking they are; those things are expected of them. Only when they are doing a virtuosic act, such as saying “I love you.”
Dogs must act extremely cunningly to garner attention. Cats, though, just have to be.
Reading a cat
Due to the distinctive and somewhat complex methods in which they convey their emotions, cats have an unjustified reputation for being enigmatic and distant.
Although a cat’s face may appear attractive or grumpy depending on the situation, it is essentially fixed and largely emotionless.
However, felines have a variety of different behaviors they might use to express their emotions.
- Purrs
People usually believe that a purr is a sure sign of pure joy, however this is untrue. Cats in distress might purr as well. According to some experts, cats may use the calming sound to console themselves when things go unpleasant.Some people have even suggested that a purr can be therapeutic. Both the inhale and the exhale are accompanied by purring, which results in a throbbing 20 to 150 Herz hum. It’s still unclear exactly how they accomplish this.
- Eyes
Feline eyes are normally quite large, but when they get extremely huge—sometimes with dilated irises—they may indicate a hyper-excited mood or a sense of danger.Researchers just confirmed what some cat lovers have long suspected: Give a cat a really slow blink to make peace with them. It’s as if they are saying, “You should feel as safe with me as I do with you.”
- Staying close
Being around a cat is frequently the best indication that it likes you; this is especially true of timid cats. A cat will avoid a person they are not interested in or who makes them feel uncomfortable.
- Whiskers
Although cats’ whiskers are formed of keratin, the same material as hair, they are much more than that. Each whisker has between 100 and 200 nerve cells, making them specialist touch organs that give cats information about everything they come into contact with.
A cat’s mood may also be indicated by its whiskers. They protrude from the side of the face when a cat is comfortable. A cat will point forward in a small, tight arc of pleasure when they are happy or excited, as when they are being softly handled, for instance. In response to alarm, a cat’s whiskers retract against its face.
