by CATattack
The topic of interest I identified for investigation is “What is DNA? and What is the role of DNA in Evolution?”. I wonder how changes in an animal cell’s DNA (mutations) would affect future offspring.
To learn more about DNA and how mutations can lead to variation among organisms I signed into and played The Evolution Lab by Nova. Completing the learning tasks helped me understand how natural selection and DNA help animals adapt to suit their environment
DNA Spells Evolution by Nova. Published on Apr 23, 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI_Q1kjmfxo>
After a “facetime” chat with Matthew I also decided to explore the role evolution had in the domestication of the household cat (my favourite animal:-)
Cat domestication: From farms to sofas by Nature (Jun 19, 2017)<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgZKFVaSDRw>
Here is some of the information I learn from the video
DOMESTICATED CATS ALL COME FROM WILD CATS (Felis silvestris lybica)
-there are five sub species of cats only one type was successfully tamed: North African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica).
– so all domestic cats have a common ancestor – the North African Wildcat
-cat domestication happened in 2 waves
AFRICAN WILD CATS African Wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica)
Missing is the EUROPEAN WILD CAT (See the poster of Ten Wild Cats of Africa)
Photo Credit: Ten Wild Cats of Africa Chart by Wild Cat Family https://www.wildcatfamily.com/
Wild Cat Family From: Mpala Live!
FIRST WAVE OF CAT DOMESTICATION
-cats first tamed (9000 years ago) in the Near East (the Fertile Crescent)
– this is where farming started
-farmers were probably the first people to successfully tame cats
-felines traveled to Bulgaria and Romania 6000 years ago
SECOND WAVE OF CAT DOMESTICATION
-happened several thousands of years later in ancient Egypt
-Egyptian cats traveled to Europe and became more common than cats from the near east
-Egyptian cats spread even further during the viking period
-people brought cats on boats to chase away rodents (there was the law that boats had to have cats on them)
-this allowed cats to spread across the world.
-Egyptian cats were taken along on maritime trading boats on routes to northern Europe
– researchers analysed DNA from over 200 cat remains to retrace the domestication of cats
-for thousands of years cats were mainly valued as rodent hunters and used as pest exterminators
SELECTIVE BREEDING FOR COAT COLOUR
-Wasn’t until later that people started to take an interest in how they looked
-analyzing the pattern of cat coats is a way scientists can tell the difference between wild and domesticated cats,
– a tabby blotched pattern is only found on house cats
-blotches are not found on wild cats for they have mackerel tabby pattern
– when studying the DNA remains of a cat dated from the 1300’s scientist could tell its coat had a tabby blotched pattern
-selective breeding for coat colour did not appear until the 1300’s, much later than the start of cat domestication
| African Wildcat | Tabby Cat - House Cat |
|---|---|
 The African Wildcat looks similar to pet tabby cats. The one on the right is a mackerel tabby cat. Another cat that looks similar is the Abyssinian. It is believed to be of Egyptian origin. |  |
| Photo Source of African Wildcat: Mpala Live! | Photo Source of Tabby Cat from CC by Alvesgaspar |
| Physical Trait or Behaviour | African Wild Cat | Domesticated House Cats |
|---|---|---|
| Coat | splotchy pattern sandy brown to yellow grey in colour, with black stripes on the tail, orange coloured ears and underbelly, white rings around the eyes, and black rings around the tail and bottom of the legs | makeral splotchy pattern colours range from Orange, Gray, White, Black, some cats can have combination of these colours |
| Body | long flexible powerful | flexible |
| Legs | long tall | shorter |
| Paws | wide strong | narrower strong |
| Eyes | glow in the dark, alert | glow in the dark, alert |
| Ears | alert sharp | alert sharp |
| Tail | long stong | long |
| Hunting / Food | small rodents/birds and any other small animal that they can catch | cat food small rodents and birds if they can catch anything and occasionally vegetables. |
| Playing with their prey | batting stunning and biting their prey is how they play with their food. | still have wild instinct so will chase anything catch and throwing prey in the air hitting and finally eating their prey. |
| Rubbing against objects | To mark their territory with scents glands on their cheeks, at the spot on the base of the tail. | To mark you as their own territory, to say I love you. |
| Breeding | An African wild cat can give birth to 2 litters per year with 1-5 kittens per litter and 56-65 days of pregnancy | 3 litters per year with 1-4 kittens per litter and 58-67 days of pregnancy |
| Cool facts | Feral (homeless cats) sometime breed with pure African Wild Cats so pure African wild cats are rare The African wildcat has differed from subspecies about 131,000 years ago mainly active a night kittens born blind | Domestic Cats can rotate their ears 180 degrees, the hearing of the average cat is 5 times keener then that of a human adult, cats are one of if not the most popular pet in the world, and cats conserve energy by sleeping 13-14 hours a day |
Other Sources:
Why Do Vicious Killers Make Good Pets? Published Sep 8, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JjjZUP8nnA
DNA evidence is rewriting domestication origin stories by Science News. by Tina Hesman Saey ,Published July 6, 2017.
<https://www.sciencenews.org/article/dna-evidence-rewriting-domestication-origin-stories>
Domestic Cats Vs. African Wildcats: What Do They Have In Common
<https://www.purina.com/articles/cat/facts/domestic-vs-african-wildcats>