Wild cats were tamed with strokes and treats, genetic analysis suggests

[n2doc]

Richard Gray

Cat owners will recognise the purr of pleasure from their pets when they are tickled behind the ears, but a new analysis comparing the domestic cat’s genome with that of its wild relatives suggests this may also have been key to taming the animals in the first place.

The analysis has identified some of the crucial changes in feline DNA that have occurred as the animals were domesticated over the past 9,000 years. Among the main differences are changes in genes associated with the growth of brain cells involved in feelings of reward and pleasure.

This suggests that humans first began domesticating these notoriously solitary creatures by appealing to their desire for treats and stroking. Those that responded were then more likely to be bred, leading to increasingly docile animals as time went on.

“You can imagine wild cats picking up scraps of food from near to human settlements initially and gradually becoming more accustomed to human presence,” said Dr Bronwen Aken, one of those involved in the research at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge. “They would have moved in closer to the point where they were being fed. The food would probably have been the primary reward and petting would have come later.”

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http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/10/wild-cats-tamed-strokes-treats-genetic-analysis

[JimDandy]

1. Water is wet.

I'm a cat-on-the-lap person.

[bananas]

2. Or were humans tamed by soft fur and gentle purring?

Or was it a case of co-evolution?

[n2doc]

3. It was the Squee

[Warpy]

4. That's probably closer to the truth

People probably took in abandoned kittens who weren't quite ready to be on their own and the kittens stuck around because people are messy eaters and draw feline prey like rodents. The scritches and nocturnal warm bodies kept them even closer.

[bananas]

7. Don't forget the brain parasites

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/how-your-cat-is-making-you-crazy/308873/

[Yo_Mama]

10. As soon as you shift to ag, you get rodent problems - they eat the food.

The rodents also carry diseases, and contaminate your food. It's not hard to understand why granaries = domesticated cats. And any zoonotics gained from cat exposure are not as lethal as starvation due to loss of food stores and contaminated food stores.

[Yo_Mama]

11. Coevoluation, certainly. n/t

[sorechasm]

13. 'Come and enjoy the sunlight'

Last edited Wed Nov 12, 2014, 09:14 PM - Edit history (1)

Said the first kitty to tame a human.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. So ... who was the first brave soul to try a tummy rub ?

And who was the braver soul that tried it after seeing what happened to the first ?

[Yo_Mama]

8. Well - even people who have raised lion cubs find that they are affectionate

So I assume it started as adopted cubs.

The most affectionate hung around.

[Warpy]

9. The first with a half grown kitten who trusted him or her enough

to roll over on its back and purr while kneading the air. The kitten only became upset when the tummy rub stopped.

There is a very certain "rub my tummy" pose that every cat person recognizes immediately.

[loudsue]

6. And it all started when a feral cat had a litter that ended up being raised by humans.

My guess, anyway.

[Orsino]

12. That's why I'm still alive. n/t