Did the domesticated dogs and cats we commonly know as our pets ever live in the wild? Where did they come from? How were they domesticated? Were they breed specifically for the purpose of being housepets? What were they breed from?
dogs are descendants of wolves.
cats are descendant of wild cats (the African Wild Cat maybe?)
Here’s a link for wild cats. Europe also has a species of wild cat, but I believe that house cats are descendant from the African or Egyptian species. The european wild cat is now rare.
Sorry, forgot the link!
Go to this page
http://www.nhm.org/cats/
In the left-hand frame, click on “Climbing the Family Tree.”
Then in the right-hand frame, scroll down until you see “Domestic Cat Lineage”. Click on Felis silvestris, Wild Cat.
The house cat is a descendant of the african wild cat, which still exists today in North Africa. African wild cats can be kept domesticaly if adopted as kittens. I believe it was the Egyptians who first domesticated the African wild Cat. The European wild cat is not domesticable.
I’m getting this from my two cat books, Know your Cat and Keeping Cats.
Perked Ears indicate curiosity - Know Your Cat
OK, I see how they evolved from the wild cats (leopards, tigers, etc) and dogs (wolves, foxes etc.) but what I’m really curious about is exactly how they went from wild to domesticated.
I mean, was it human intevention, or did they just evolve into the weak domesticated animals that rely on humans (and would thus have died out had not humans intervened)?
Because, there is obviously no way most any domesticated dog or cat could, if plopped in the middle of the jungle, survive.
Were these same animals ever wild?
“I feel just as reduced being called a system as I do a clock; life’s just not condensible…healing the world is an inside job.” - Thomas Harryman, Mindwalk.
Kenny, the ancestors of domesticated cats weren’t tigers, etc., they were precisely what Larry (love your sig!) and Arnold said, wild cats.
The Munich zoo has a European wild cat on display, and it looks precisely like a big gray tabby. One spring it had a kitten, and it was just as cute and fluffy as your run of the mill house-cat kitten. Of course, the similarity ended when we watched it very economically tear apart a dead chick the keepers threw in to the cage. Wouldn’t want to play “get the yarn” with that one!
Weak and domesticated? Have you ever tried handling a cat or dog that didn’t want to be handled?
Anyway, yes, cats and dogs (the domestic kind) that are abandoned or what have you can and do survive in the wild. There is (or was, last time I was there) a family of feral cats living outside the Sandia Peak Tramway upper terminal (Albuquerque, NM) that have been there for years. They shun people and hunt mice and what not. they survive very well, as far as I can tell.
I’ve also seen feral dogs. They’re just as dangerous as any wild animal (maybe more, because they learned the hard way not to trust humans), and survive quite well also.
Interestingly, domesticated dogs, left to go wild, run in packs too.
Sick, twisted thought: a pack of wild chihuahuas. UGH. that has to violate noise ordinances.
There are no dangerous weapons,
Only dangerous men.
Joe Cool
As to when/how dogs and cats became domesticated… there are numerous theories as to how men and dogs became friends. The most common belief is that wild dogs learned hundreds of thousands of years ago that men were sloppy and picky eaters who usually left a lot of food after they’d finished a hunt and a meal. So, for milennia, wild dogs followed men around, hoping to eat man’s leftovers. Now, dogs (then as now) were predators, but not particular aggressive predators. Humans figured that dogs were neither dangerous nor good to eat, so they learned to ignore the presence of dogs. So, for several thousand years, the two species sort of co-existed and learned to tolerate each other (much as lions tolerate and ignore buzzards).
Now, food wasn’t easy to come by in ancient times, and primitive men wouldn’t have embraced dogs out of the goodness of their hearts. If they were going to share food and space with dogs, those dogs had to provide some valuable service in return. Gradually, since both men and dogs are social creatures, each came to think of the other as part of its larger “pack.” And men gradually realized that dogs’ keen sense of smell made them very good hunters. Since men and dogs had a common interest (catching and killing buffalos/deer/whatever, as well as defending their turf from other animals), they formed a bond that exists to this day- even though MOST dogs now serve no useful purpose.
As for cats… well, they became useful to man only AFTER men began farming. After all, the one thing a cat is really USEFUL for is killing mice. You think cavemen worried about mice? Nah! As far as the cavemen were concerned, mice were harmless. Only when man began large scale agriculture did he see mice as a nuisance- a nuisance that could wipe out his crops and food supplies.
Small wonder, then, that the Egyptians and Babylonians came to think of cats (and, to a smaller degree, snakes) as gifts from the gods, or as gods themselves! Cats killed the vermin who trheatened to wipe out agriculture.
When a mommy cat and a daddy cat love each other very, very much…
Anyway, prior to keeping cats, ancient cultures used to use venomous snakes to keep the rats out the grain. You can see how domesticating cats was a step up.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
Astorian,
An additional theory of cat domestication, which does not neccessarily contradict your post, is that the Egyptians were faxcinated by animals and tried to tame everything. I believe there are tomb paintings which showed egyptians with just about all of the local fauna. Most of these experiments didn’t work, but since the african wild cat is genetically equipped for domestication, they adapted easily.
Of course, the reason cats became popular outside of Egypt has to do with their usefulness to grain storing cultures as you pointed out.
Perked Ears indicate curiosity - Know Your Cat
Somebody in town dumps them out.
Talk about perfect timing! I just received my copy of the latest (4th) edition of Robinson’s Genetics for Cat Breeders & Veterinarians, where the origin of domestic cats is discussed.
According to this book, there is some doubt as to whether Egypt is actually the originator of the domestic cat - they are simply one of the first to make a big deal about it.
“The assumption that Egypt was the unique birth center of the domestic cat is challenged somewhat by the parallel development of domesticated cats elsewhere in the world. In particular, there are indications that the Japanese have had(and possibly venerated)domestic cats, with a unique cork-screw tail, for more than 2000 years.” (pp 4-5)
New evidence also casts some doubt on the African and European wildcats as the sole progenitors of the domestic cat. Mummified remains of what appears to be a separate, unknown species, tentatively named Felis bubastis, have been identified from Egyptian tombs, and there doesn’t seem to be any corresponding wild species in existence. Also, recent experiments in hybridization have uncovered the fact that, while the African and European wildcats are capable of mating with and producing offspring by domestic cats, so are several other wild species, with varying degrees of fertility in the offspring. As a matter of fact, it is beginning to appear that all of the species of small cats (as opposed to lions, tigers, leopards, etc.) may be capable of mating and producing offspring. Even the Geoffrey’s cat, a South American cat with a different number of chromosomes than domestics and other Old World felines, is fertile with domestic cats, as is the bobcat. So, the ancestry of the domestic cat is probably a much bigger mish-mash than previously thought.
As to how they became domesticated, that seems to be pretty simple. People store grain of various types, which attract vermin. Cats are primarily vermin eaters, and so hung around a steady food supply. When humans noticed that the cats were being very useful in keeping rodents out of the grain stores, they began encouraging them to hang around, probably by offering them special treats and not running them off. The cats whose personalities made them more tolerant of sociable behavior and human interaction thrived more than their more standoffish relatives. Kittens born into this atmosphere were more accepting of the situation, inherited more of the tolerant genes, and were healthier and longer lived, producing more kittens, etc. Undoubtedly, some people began capturing very young kittens and hand-raising them for better socialization - those with wild personalities eventually reverted and returned to a more solitary life, while those with more tolerant personalities hung around and contributed to the gene pool. Eventually cats graduated from useful grain protectors to fascinating exotic pets, and people began collecting, breeding, and preserving cats with unusual traits, such as long hair, pointing (siamese), etc., and the many breeds of domestic cat began development.
Larry, if you’re interested in this sort of thing, this book is available from amazon.com for $65 (outrageous price!). It was only released a few months ago.
Some days you’re the dog, some days you’re the hydrant.
Just in case you were waiting, Astorian:
What? “…even though MOST dogs now serve no useful purpose.” 
People come around my neighborhood selling home protections systems, but my dogs bark so loudly you can barely hear them talk. But they usually say something like, “Well, I can see you don’t need one.” when they walk away.
Dogs are still a good protection.
Haven’t dogs been domesticated 2 -3 times longer than cats? Sounds reasonable if you attach dogs to hanging around and hunting and cats with agriculture.
Are you driving with your eyes open or are you using The Force? - A. Foley
I’ll see if it turns up in a second hand store, thanks.
Book prices, sheesh!
From Science Magazine,
After that intro, the genetics got a bit thick, and I only followed the gist of things. It seems to have happened at least four times, and probably more. No living wolf populations are identifiable as the source of dogs, only the species as a whole.
Tris
Imagine my signature begins five spaces to the right of center.
Very interesting.
Thank you all for your helpful responses. I knew I could count on the teeming millions.
“I feel just as reduced being called a system as I do a clock; life’s just not condensible…healing the world is an inside job.” - Thomas Harryman, Mindwalk.
I have had several dogs in my life, and I have one now (on my lap, as I type). I love dogs. But the fact remains, VERY few dogs today serve any useful purpose today, and the same is true of cats.
Yes, dogs can provide valuable home security- but do you really think anyone keeps a dachshund or bassett around the house to attack burglars? Yes, there are still border collies working hard, rounding up sheep and cows on ranches… but what hard labor does a poodle or pug do?
Hey, I don’t criticize the dogs! It just so happens that, since the Industrial Revolution, MOST humans have no use for the formerly valuable services that dogs were bred to provide. Luckily, since the Industrial Revolution, most humans in the USA have plenty of money and surplus food, and we can afford to keep a doggie around just for fun. A CAVEMAN, shepherd, or subsistence farmer on the other hand, didn’t have food to spare. He would keep dogs around ONLY if they provided a valuable services (catching game, rounding up the sheep, etc.).
I am not disagreeing with your point, astorian - it’s true that most cats and dogs no longer seem to serve any practical function - but I would like to qualify it by saying that the companionship offered by these animals might be considered a ‘useful purpose’. After all, that’s why we keep them around, isn’t it? We derive pleasure from their company.
Some days you’re the dog, some days you’re the hydrant.
Strange no one has mentioned this here, but I’m sure some very young dogs and cats were domesticated when they were simply found and raised by people for fun. Once the first generation learns to depend on people for food, they lead succeeding generations to the same food source. Individuals with wilder instincts run away or are killed for their “disobedience”. Animals with more uses (dogs, cats, sheep, pigs) were kept and bred more often; more dangerous, less useful animals (tigers, raccoons, skunks) were not. Where’s the big mystery?
–mrblue
Stating the obvious since 1974.