Knowing how Dopers are about cats, I’m obligated to share this.
Manul – the Cat that Time Forgot
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Have you ever wanted to take a trip through time to see what animals looked like millions of years ago? When it comes to cats there is little or no need. This beautiful specimen is a Manul, otherwise known as Pallas’s Cat. About twelve million years ago it was one of the first two modern cats to evolve and it hasn’t changed since. The other species, Martelli’s Cat, is extinct so what you are looking at here is a unique window in to the past of modern cats.
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Hm, that would be worth getting a wild animal license and seeing if I could get a pair once mrAru retires and we have the larger place… [they need the room because they are more solitary than normal domestic cats] I think they would be fascinating to work with. [my previous experience is with a mostly wolf hybrid]
I’ve been trying to convince Mr. Lissar to let me have one. I started my campaign about five years ago, when I first saw pictures. Anything that fuzzy wants to be loved and domesticated and snuggled, right?
Scene: a riverbank. Time: umpteen thousand BC.
A prehistoric man is spearing fish in the river. After a while, he gets hungry and starts to gnaw on one of the fish that has been baking on a hot rock in the sun.
A fuzzy yet graceful creature comes up and looks intently at first the fish, then the man. "Ki teh?" says the man, meaning, “Want some fish?”
The cat nibbles at the fish, then sits down quietly beside the man, purring.
Instinctively, the man reaches out to stroke the cat.
The cat attacks the man’s hand as if to kill it. "Kaat," snarls the man, meaning, “Little fucker.”
He slings the day’s catch over his shoulder and, licking his wounds, heads home.
I was thinking that too. They’re beautiful, but they look like they’re about to cause some serious mischief. It’s the eyes, I think. Very human looking.
