Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/06/19/cats-domesticated-themselves.html
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Cats didn’t domestic themselves, they domesticated humans.
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Domesticated is a strong term for how cats and humans interact.
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They can also de-domesticate themselves in an instant. Go, Simba, be free!
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I like the idea that cats were useful from the get-go, they didn’t have to be domesticated for humans to find them useful.
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“I have no idea what you mean,” I say as I open the window to let my cat inside because he’s decided that jumping up on the water barrel and coming in the window is preferable to the door.
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Current theory is that wolves weren’t domesticated by humans directly. There was an intermediate form, a slightly-less-wary wolf that adapted to scavenging around neolithic human settlements. Living off of scraps meant they had to tolerate humans to some extent. Humans benefited by having wolf-dogs cleaning up the neighborhood and raising hell when more-wild animals approached.
The pups of these critters could be approached and adopted, and eventually trained and bred.
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“Got created the cat so that Man could caress a wildbeast.” Victor Hugo
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Hear that, Mrs Spat? You’re domesticated. Oww.
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Humans domesticated ourselves and dogs, livestock. Cats tolerate us because we are a consistent source of nibbles.
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And warm pizza boxes on which to rest.
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The traditional quote: “Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.”
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they had to domesticate us, first.
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Topical synchrondipity! I was just watching this:
Pariah dogs still live like that in a lot of places.
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