Everyone knows that domestic cats are domesticated by wild cats, but do you know what wild cats are?
In fact, wild cats have two concepts: broad sense and narrow sense, in which the narrow sense refers to the ancestors of domestic cats, while the broad sense refers to all animals under cats.
The ancestor of domestic cats, wild cats.
A domestic cat in a narrow sense is a cat. However, at first, tabby cat was the scientific name of European wildcat, which was considered to be different from Asian and African wildcats. But in 2007, by sequencing the genes of these wild cats, scientists found that there were only subspecies differences between European wild cats and Asian-African wild cats, but there were also some genetic differences between wild cats distributed in Asia and Africa, even between China and other parts of Asia. However, in 2007, scientists collected thousands of different kinds of cats from all over the world for genetic sample study. By comparing mitochondrial DNA and repetitive short-sequence nuclear DNA, it is found that domestic cats are only clustered with the pedigree of middle eastern wildcats. Although it has gone through thousands of years, there is no genetic difference between domestic cats and middle eastern wildcats.
This means that domestic cats are domesticated by wild cats in the Middle East, that is, wild cats living on the east coast of the Mediterranean. Later, scientists analyzed the cat bones found in archaeology and found that the earliest domesticated wild cat was the ancient Egyptians, so the official determined that the ancestor of the domestic cat was the African wild cat.
As a result, tabby cats have six subspecies: European wildcats, Asian wildcats, African wildcats, South African wildcats, China wildcats and domestic cats. However, a new problem has emerged. What kind of wild cats domesticate domestic cats?
At first, scientists thought that domestic cats in the world should come from four subspecies, namely, China wildcat, Asian wildcat, South African wildcat and European wildcat. This is judged according to the morphological differences of domestic cats in different regions. In other words, China's domestic cats were domesticated by China wildcats, and so on.
Domestic cats were domesticated about 9,500 years ago, while humans began agricultural cultivation about 1 10,000 years ago. Therefore, the domestication of domestic cats originated from mice, because human agricultural cultivation attracted many mice, and mice were the main prey of African wildcats, so African wildcats will inevitably follow a large number of mice to human settlements, thus giving humans the opportunity to domesticate this cautious carnivore who lives alone.
After being domesticated, cats were brought to the world as the main rodent control tools when the ancient Egyptians migrated to Europe, Asia and America. Although cats are not usually used to kill mice nowadays, they have become an important member of the human pet army.
Wild cats in a broad sense
At the beginning, we said that wild cats in a broad sense are not only tabby cats, but also the general name of five kinds of cats below cats, including tabby cats, desert cats, jungle cats, desert cats and black-footed cats. Let's take a brief look at the remaining four wild cats:
Number one: a desert cat. Desert cat is a kind of wild cat unique to China, which is bigger than domestic cat. In China, desert cats are only distributed in some parts of the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, inhabiting grasslands, alpine meadows and alpine shrubs at an altitude of 2,000-5,000 meters.
From the appearance, adult desert cats are mainly tan, with short hair tufts on their ears and 3-6 black rings on their tails.
Desert cats are one of the most difficult cats to keep. On the one hand, they are highly adapted to high altitude environment. On the other hand, they are very sensitive during the breeding period. Once there is an abnormal sound (man-made), they will eat their cubs. Therefore, at present, only desert cats are exhibited in Xining Wildlife Park in Qinghai.
The second kind: desert cat. There is only one word difference between a desert cat and a desert cat, but their looks are quite different. From the appearance, the desert cat's head is round and big, its ears are pointed, its body color is mainly sandy yellow, its body has dark markings, and its limbs have obvious black ring markings.
The desert cat is a very lovely wild cat. It is one of the smallest cats in existence, with an average body length of about 50 cm and an average weight of only 2.7 kg.
Desert cat is a rare cat that lives in the desert. They are mainly distributed in deserts of North Africa, West Asia and Southwest China. Living in a dry desert for a long time, desert cats have developed a drinking capacity of up to 30 days, and the water supplement depends entirely on the body fluids of their prey.
Desert cats mainly feed on gerbils, snakes, lizards and other animals. They are not afraid of poisonous snakes in the desert, just like flat-headed honeybadgers eat snakes.
The third type: black-footed cat. Black-footed cat is the smallest cat in the world, even smaller than desert cat. The average weight of adults is only about 1.6 kg, and their feet are covered with long black hair, which is an evolved feature to prevent hot sand.
The biggest difference between black-footed cats and other wild cats is that they are covered with obvious black stripes, which is similar to desert cats. They also like desert environment and live a life of staying up late during the day and going out at night. The main prey of black-footed cats are rodents, birds and reptiles, but black-footed cats have strong hunting ability. They can kill prey four times bigger than themselves. Most importantly, under the whole carnivore, the black-footed cat has the highest success rate, up to 60%, higher than cheetahs (58%) and hyenas (46%).
Last one: the jungle cat. The name jungle cat may not be familiar to many friends, but when it comes to its common name, I believe many friends have heard of it. It is called "wild civet", and some places are called wild civet.
The jungle cat is the largest of the five wild cats. Their average body length is 70 cm and their weight is about 9 kg, which is bigger than common cats. From the appearance, the jungle cat is somewhat similar to the domestic cat, but its hair is mostly light yellow, with few stripes and spots on it, only the legs have inconspicuous annular stripes, and the ears have short black tufts.
Jungle cat is a widely distributed wild cat. Its distribution starts from Egypt, passes through the Middle East and Central Asia, and extends to India, Indochina Peninsula and China. Like other wild cats, rodents and birds are the main prey of jungle cats. However, the difference is that some of them live near human settlements, so they poach poultry. It's just that people usually think that this cat is a normal wild cat, not a jungle cat.
What kind of cat is a wildcat? How does it survive in the wild?
As far as high cold is concerned, cats have never served anyone. Although cats have been domesticated for more than 9000 years, their characters are still similar to their ancestors: solitary, quiet, calm and disobedient.
Everyone knows that domestic cats are domesticated by wild cats, but do you know what wild cats are?
In fact, wild cats have two concepts: broad sense and narrow sense, in which the narrow sense refers to the ancestors of domestic cats, while the broad sense refers to all animals under cats.
The ancestor of domestic cats, wild cats.
A domestic cat in a narrow sense is a cat. However, at first, tabby cat was the scientific name of European wildcat, which was considered to be different from Asian and African wildcats. But in 2007, by sequencing the genes of these wild cats, scientists found that there were only subspecies differences between European wild cats and Asian-African wild cats, but there were also some genetic differences between wild cats distributed in Asia and Africa, even between China and other parts of Asia.
As a result, tabby cats have six subspecies: European wildcats, Asian wildcats, African wildcats, South African wildcats, China wildcats and domestic cats. However, a new problem has emerged. What kind of wild cats domesticate domestic cats?
At first, scientists thought that domestic cats in the world should come from four subspecies, namely, China wildcat, Asian wildcat, South African wildcat and European wildcat. This is judged according to the morphological differences of domestic cats in different regions. In other words, China's domestic cats were domesticated by China wildcats, and so on.
China wildcat
However, in 2007, scientists collected thousands of different kinds of cats from all over the world for genetic sample study. By comparing mitochondrial DNA and repetitive short-sequence nuclear DNA, it is found that domestic cats are only clustered with the pedigree of middle eastern wildcats. Although it has gone through thousands of years, there is no genetic difference between domestic cats and middle eastern wildcats.
This means that domestic cats are domesticated by wild cats in the Middle East, that is, wild cats living on the east coast of the Mediterranean. Later, scientists analyzed the cat bones found in archaeology and found that the earliest domesticated wild cat was the ancient Egyptians, so the official determined that the ancestor of the domestic cat was the African wild cat.
African wildcat
Domestic cats were domesticated about 9,500 years ago, while humans began agricultural cultivation about 1 10,000 years ago. Therefore, the domestication of domestic cats originated from mice, because human agricultural cultivation attracted many mice, and mice were the main prey of African wildcats, so African wildcats will inevitably follow a large number of mice to human settlements, thus giving humans the opportunity to domesticate this cautious carnivore who lives alone.
After being domesticated, cats were brought to the world as the main rodent control tools when the ancient Egyptians migrated to Europe, Asia and America. Although cats are not usually used to kill mice nowadays, they have become an important member of the human pet army.
Wild cats in a broad sense
At the beginning, we said that wild cats in a broad sense are not only tabby cats, but also the general name of five kinds of cats below cats, including tabby cats, desert cats, jungle cats, desert cats and black-footed cats. Let's take a brief look at the remaining four wild cats:
Number one: a desert cat. Desert cat is a kind of wild cat unique to China, which is bigger than domestic cat. In China, desert cats are only distributed in some parts of the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, inhabiting grasslands, alpine meadows and alpine shrubs at an altitude of 2,000-5,000 meters.
From the appearance, adult desert cats are mainly tan, with short hair tufts on their ears and 3-6 black rings on their tails.
Desert cats are one of the most difficult cats to keep. On the one hand, they are highly adapted to high altitude environment. On the other hand, they are very sensitive during the breeding period. Once there is an abnormal sound (man-made), they will eat their cubs. Therefore, at present, only desert cats are exhibited in Xining Wildlife Park in Qinghai.
The second kind: desert cat. There is only one word difference between a desert cat and a desert cat, but their looks are quite different. From the appearance, the desert cat's head is round and big, its ears are pointed, its body color is mainly sandy yellow, its body has dark markings, and its limbs have obvious black ring markings.
The desert cat is a very lovely wild cat. It is one of the smallest cats in existence, with an average body length of about 50 cm and an average weight of only 2.7 kg.
Desert cat is a rare cat that lives in the desert. They are mainly distributed in deserts of North Africa, West Asia and Southwest China. Living in a dry desert for a long time, desert cats have developed a drinking capacity of up to 30 days, and the water supplement depends entirely on the body fluids of their prey.
Desert cats mainly feed on gerbils, snakes, lizards and other animals. They are not afraid of poisonous snakes in the desert, just like flat-headed honeybadgers eat snakes.
The third type: black-footed cat. Black-footed cat is the smallest cat in the world, even smaller than desert cat. The average weight of adults is only about 1.6 kg, and their feet are covered with long black hair, which is an evolved feature to prevent hot sand.
The biggest difference between black-footed cats and other wild cats is that they are covered with obvious black stripes, which is similar to desert cats. They also like desert environment and live a life of staying up late during the day and going out at night. The main prey of black-footed cats are rodents, birds and reptiles, but black-footed cats have strong hunting ability. They can kill prey four times bigger than themselves. Most importantly, under the whole carnivore, the black-footed cat has the highest success rate, up to 60%, higher than cheetahs (58%) and hyenas (46%).
Last one: the jungle cat. The name jungle cat may not be familiar to many friends, but when it comes to its common name, I believe many friends have heard of it. It is called "wild civet", and some places are called wild civet.
The jungle cat is the largest of the five wild cats. Their average body length is 70 cm and their weight is about 9 kg, which is bigger than common cats. From the appearance, the jungle cat is somewhat similar to the domestic cat, but its hair is mostly light yellow, with few stripes and spots on it, only the legs have inconspicuous annular stripes, and the ears have short black tufts.
Jungle cat is a widely distributed wild cat. Its distribution starts from Egypt, passes through the Middle East and Central Asia, and extends to India, Indochina Peninsula and China. Like other wild cats, rodents and birds are the main prey of jungle cats. However, the difference is that some of them live near human settlements, so they poach poultry. It's just that people usually think that this cat is a normal wild cat, not a jungle cat.
Write it at the end
Wild cats usually refer to five kinds of animals under cats, whose habitats and appearances are different. As for survival, although it is not big, it has a strong ability to survive in the wild, not to mention catching mice, birds, snakes and even young goats.
However, although domestic cats are also a subspecies of wild cats, domestic cats are only domesticated with the African tabby subspecies, which is far from other wild cats.