STRANGE BUT TRUE- Cat-egories: Why felines just aren't into you
A. Cat domestication began in the Fertile Crescent perhaps
10,000 years ago, with the development of agriculture. Cats hung
around settlements looking for food scraps and in return
dispatched bothersome mice and snakes, says Carlos Driscoll in
Scientific American. Plus, cats are cute, with their big eyes,
snub face, and high round forehead. Thus while dogs were bred
for guarding, hunting and herding, cats were under no such
selective breeding pressures. "To enter our homes, they had only
to evolve a people-friendly disposition." Still, cats are far
from truly domesticated, not relying on people to feed them or
find them mates. The average domestic cat today is not greatly
different from its wild ancestors, although with shorter legs, a
smaller brain and, as Charles Darwin noted, a longer intestine,
perhaps an adaptation from scavenging so many kitchen scraps.
Cat breeders currently are creating exotic new breeds such as
the Bengal and the Caracat