Cats are everywhere. You’re driving down a road late at night
and you see a pair of glowing eyes crossing ahead of you. It may
be in town or in the countryside, but they’re there. A stray cat is
prowling around the house, looking for food. The friendly
neighborhood cat comes by or maybe you have a pet cat of your
own. But how much do you really know about cats? What do
you know about their history, behavior, intelligence, athletic
ability, and so on. Well, let’s find out a little bit more about these
wonderful creatures and what makes them so unique.
When I said cats are everywhere, I do mean everywhere!
According to statistica.com as of 2017 there are about 95.8
million cats in the United States alone, and although feral cat
populations can make it hard to estimate, there are probably
around 600 million cats worldwide. They live on every continent
except Antartica and are now the world’s most popular pet, even
ahead of dogs. Today’s domestic cat actually comes from a felid
ancestor that lived 10 – 15 million years ago which then rapidly
evolved into the entire cat family that we see today – lions, tigers,
domestic cats, mountain lions, and so on. It is believed to have
orginated from the Near Eastern and African Wildcats which
roamed from the Middle East to western Africa hundreds of
thousands of years ago. The ancient Egyptians were the first to
actually use cats. Stray cats would come and hunt rodents that
were ravaging their grain and over a period of time they became
the first domesticated cats. These cats were prized by the ancient Egyptians even to the point where they looked to them as gods,
making sacred statues of them and painting or drawing them
into their artwork. All cats in the cat family share very similar
traits whether we’re talking about a tiger, lion, or domestic cat.
In fact most people would probably be surprised to know that
the domestic cat of today shares about 96% of it’s dna with a
tiger! The truth is that the domestic cat is really half tame and
half wild, even to this day.
Cats are extremely intelligent, with a long term memory
superior to that of dogs. They are fiercely independent and can
not be as easily trained as dogs. Whereas dogs have a pack
mentality and want to please humans, who they see as leaders of
their pack, cats view humans as their equals and tend to do
pretty much what they want. Even so, they can also be very
social, often living in large colonies which are located near a
reliable food source. Cats are also easily frightened. When
something traumatic happens to a cat to frighten it, the cat will
always remember that event and will tend to change it’s
behavior accordingly in similar situations. So it’s very important
to take care when disciplining a cat and never use any physical
force or violence. The cat would always remember this and
develop a fearful and withdrawn personality. Some cats may
even become more angry and violent towards their owner. All
kittens start out with blue eyes which gradually change color as
they get older, unless of course they are predisposed to have blue
eyes. Kittens have a love of play and they can be very rough
about it, either with humans or another cat. They like to ambush and attack a human’s ankles as they walk by and will bite and
scratch the hand or wrist area, maybe even drawing blood. The
kitten really means no harm, it’s just their way of playing and
preparing themselves to hunt animals in the wild. As the cat
matures and develops into an adult it will usually become much
more kind and gentle and make a wonderful pet and companion.
Adult cats are generally much less active than kittens and
usually sleep most of the time - in this way they conserve energy
that will be needed when they go out to hunt.
Cats are extremely athletic – much more so than dogs. The
fastest land animal on Earth is the Cheetah which can run in
bursts of up to 70 miles per hour. Even a domestic cat can run
faster than the fastest human. Quora.com says that the fastest
speed of a human, set by Usain Bolt, is 27.4 mph. Domestic cats
can run up to 29.8 mph, but only in short bursts, since all cats
lack stamina. Cats have phenomenal jumping ability – even the
common domestic cat can jump about 6 times it’s length, or over
eight feet when in good health. Since they originated and evolved
from the desert cats can get by with very little water and can
easily withstand temperatures up to 120 degrees farenheight.
Cats have eyes that are far superior to humans for night vision
and can see 6 – 8 times better in dim light. They also have better
peripheral vision with a range of 200 degrees compared to 180
degrees for humans. Humans are superior in closeup and color
vision however. Cats lack the eye muscle ability to reshape their
eye lens and so can not see closeup well or see at a distance as
clearly – they need to be no more than about 20 feet away to see an object clearly. They also have all 3 types of cones for color
vision that humans have – red, green, and blue, but not nearly as
many of them so they are less densely distributed. Many experts
believe that cats see the world in muted and less intense colors
than a human does.
Cats have a natural fear of humans, but if you pick up and
hold a kitten 4 to 8 weeks old on a regular basis, it will usually
crawl up and sleep next to you as an adult. With the proper care
and attention kittens almost always grow up to make wonderful
pets and companions. There are so many different breeds and
variations of cats now that it is not difficult at all to find a cat,
either adult or kitten, which will be just the right fit for you! A
great place to start is your local pet shelter or cat sanctuary –
there are so many great cats who would just love to go home
with you. Get over there right now and find out how fantastic
cats really are – there’s a friend waiting for you. The cat – it
really is a strange and wonderful creature!
Be sure and check out the following video -
