LOOK OUT EVERYBODY! IT'S CATmageddon!

[THCengineer]

LOOK OUT EVERYBODY! IT'S CATmageddon!

Hey, all you kool two-legged kats out there,

Oh no, It's ALL over! It's CATpocalypse!

Oh no, My God! Its DOOMSDAY!

Like we felines always say:

When in danger,

When in doubt,

Run in circles,

Hiss and shout!

And this is for all you frisky felines running amok out there:

Forget your crunchy treats and go crawl under something!

The gravy train has crashed and the cupboard is bare!

The stars are going out and the poker is in the fire!

The tides are rising and the sea is rushing in!

Hail and fire raining down from the skies!

We're out of tidbits and crunchy treats!

The party's over, brothers and sisters!

Brush up on your swimming, kitties!

The mother of all storms is brewing!

We're all in for a hell-of-a-time!

ANIMAL CONTROL IS HERE!

It's the End Of The World!

See you in cat heaven!

Die all, die merrily!

Whoopee!



Cat Tale

Though I've kept many cats since 1986

I confess that I still don't know what makes them tick?

After I feed them and groom them and hug them each day

Their articulate mews say they're ready to play!

Like lion cubs, they love to stalk, jump and zoom

In the wild kingdom that was once my living room.

But they're my precious, priceless and loyal best friends

Who, with leg-rubs, paws and licks pay me dividends

That reciprocate the care I invest in them

With their purring cat tale that will never end!

.:AeolusAthene:.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9YxUCFeF2A&feature=sh are
Epic Cat House Party
Published on Feb 19, 2016
We did it! One epic video and over 4,000 retweets later, the latest great cat video has been unlocked.


https://www.facebook.com/danstapub/videos/769353326560470/
Keep them busy
November 2, 2016
A side-splitting, riotous, comedic mirror of current world events!

 

[Dropped Cat]

lolz, cats

 

[THCengineer]

DNA Reveals The Complex Domestication of Cats

DNA Reveals The Complex Domestication of Cats

​

Cats were domesticated around 9000 B.C.
in ancient Egypt. ​

https://beforeitsnews.com/science-and-technology/2017/07/dna-reveals-the-complex-domestication-of-cats-2894851.html
DNA Reveals The Complex Domestication of Cats Friday, July 14, 2017 ​

A group of scientists has traced the domestication of cats by analyzing the DNA of ancient felines, discovering two major waves of domestication that left their mark in our modern housecat.

The modern domestic cat is primarily a descendant of Felis silvestris lybica, commonly known as the African or Near Eastern wildcat, which was domesticated several times in different locations around the world, with two major waves contributing to modern domestic cats.

These are the findings of a group of scientists, including researchers from the French National Center for Scientific Research, Institut Jacques Monod and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History published June 19, 2017, in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Interestingly, while cats were likely first domesticated in the Neolithic era in early farming communities of the Fertile Crescent, with a second major contribution of domesticated cats from Egypt in the Greek and Roman periods, it was not until the medieval period that the distinctive blotched “tabby cat” markings emerged.

The tabby pattern was a recent development in domestic cats, arising between 500 AD to 1300 AD in the Ottoman Empire.

In order to trace the origins of the modern domestic cat, the researchers analyzed ancient cat remains from Europe, North and East Africa and Southwest Asia, spanning from the Mesolithic, approximately 9000 years ago, to the 19th century AD. The remains of over 230 cats, some of them mummified cats from Egypt, were examined and their mitochondrial DNA was analyzed. Mitochondria are the energy-producing machinery of the cell. These mitochondria have their own DNA, which is separate from the nuclear DNA of the host. Mitochondria are inherited from mother to child and can thus be used to trace maternal lineages and population splits.

Mummified cat, ancient Egypt, 2000-100 BCE

By analyzing the cats’ mitochondrial DNA, the scientists found two major waves of domestication that contributed to today’s cats.

The first major domestication event was probably in the Fertile Crescent as long as 7,500 years ago, from wildcats originating in Anatolia. These cats were likely attracted to early human settlements due to the presence of rodents, which were themselves attracted by human food stores.

Cats can then be seen moving with human populations as early as 5000 to 6000 years ago, as farmers spread from the Near East into Europe, and also with seafaring communities. Cats appear to have traveled along maritime trade routes, as well as with military expeditions, which is also supported by historical evidence. The scientists note that, “in medieval times it was compulsory for seafarers to have cats onboard,” to combat the rats and house mice that were a frequent pest on ships.

As mentioned above, cats likely underwent several domestication events, and also interbred with wildcats, both F. s. lybica and other subspecies, including F. s. silvestris, the European wildcat, at various times. The second major wave of domestication, however, occurred in the Greek and Roman periods, when a fad for Egyptian cats led to a movement of domestic cats descended from the North African F. s. lybica to Europe, which greatly increased their representation in the overall domestic cat gene pool.

These Egyptian cats continued to be spread by humans throughout Europe, reaching Viking ports in the Baltic Sea and trading ports in Iran by the 8th century AD. This Egyptian cat heritage persists in domestic cats to the present day.

African Wildcat (F. s. lybica) at the Johannesburg Zoo, South Africa.

It seems that early in the domestication process, humans were selecting cats for behavioral traits. However, by medieval times, it seems that cats also began to be bred for their appearance. The researchers found the first evidence of a “tabby” pattern that contains spots as well as stripes dating to this time period in the Ottoman Empire in Southwest Asia.

Wildcats are often striped, but do not have the distinctive spots that domestic tabby cats sometimes have. “These data suggest that whereas cat domestication may have been driven in its early stages by behavioral features, as indicated by recent genomic data, distinctive physical and aesthetic traits may have been selected only recently,” the researchers state. The appearance of spots began between 500 and 1300 AD, and became more common in the Ottoman Empire and Europe after that time.

Contacts and sources:

Dr. Nicole Boivin

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Citation: The palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world. Authors: Ottoni, C.; Neer, W. V.; Cupere, B. D.; Daligault, J.; Guimaraes, S.; Peters, J.; Spassov, N.; Prendergast, M. E.; Boivin, N. L.; Morales-Muñiz, A. et al.: Nature Ecology & Evolution (2017)
​

 

[Pinball Wizard]

You've come a long way, Baby!

You've come a long way, Baby!

 

[St. Phatty]

Hurricane Irma is a lamb compared to Hurricane Mocha.

Speaking of CATmageddon !

That's a San Diego State sweatshirt they chewed up.

I don't know why they felt a need to chew through the Water-Pick cord - but they did !

She has 4 brothers, managed to re-home one of them today.

If scrap steel goes back up to 10 cents a pound, I'll have a small fortune in cat food cans.