They didn’t just come inside. They also infected us with brain parasites that makes us like cats, and learnt to meow in specific frequencies that make us treat them like human babies…
I don’t treat cats like human babies. I like cats way more
They’re that good at it. (Also the toxoplasma help.)
Really, it’s babies’ fault for not staying ahead of the game. With all the germs they roll in and all the poop they produce, they should have something to show for it by now.
My cat told me not to believe these lies spread by dogs.
Only about 11% of the US population has toxoplasmosis, and healthy people recover without treatment. It’s not a life long thing.
Cat domestication is mainly about making them small enough so that when they randomly decide to slap your face with their clawed paws you wouldn’t die.
Make sense.
Some people say we didn’t domesticate cats, but they cats domesticated us.
They certainly manipulated us. Their cries attempt to mimic that of human babies in tone and frequency so they can get a response from us.
What if cats are responsible for human civilization by domesticating us?
Toxoplasma gondii, which needs to reproduce in felines, can infect any warm blooded animal. It’s been observed to increase risk taking behaviour which could have helped to contribute to the development of human society.
Well, they certainly helped keep our granaries pest-free.
(Also, when people started killing cats instead of rats it probably had quite negative consequences for civilization… though, to be fair, the black death probably set the right circumstances for the rise of the middle class, and the renaissance… so lose some win some, I suppose.)
Barn cats are the natural domestication of cats.
You need a friend to protect your grain stores.
Early domestic dogs were probably ratters, too. The domestication process for both were probably pretty similar.
The biggest difference is that domesitc dogs were then also able to be bred into companion hunters.
Although, neutering a cat can stop the territorial urination.
My brain just went down a rabbit hole of of breeds vs strays and whether it’s fucked or not and how the world would look if people treated cat breeding like they did dog breeding and how things would change.
I had this comment open for like 20 minutes
Both cats and dogs are bred a lot and not to the animal’s advantage. Though I guess dog breeding and its disadvantages are a little more prominent and known than cat breeding is. Correct me if I’m wrong
Though I guess dog breeding and its disadvantages
I mean, the cuter an animal is the more humans want it. Pugs might have health issues, but selective breeding has certainly made them very popular. That is, to the animals advantage.
Taking pugs as an example, being bred into an existence filled will medical issues that majorly impact your health and make living pain, it’s certainly not an advantage. Sure, they’re popular, but being popular is what drives them to be bred even more. The medical issues don’t go away, though
Cats lack the genetic diversity and flexibility dogs have.
People in the cat fancy have tried to changes things but for the most part a cat is a cat. Probably just part of being an obligate carnivore.
If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it
And then you look at Sphynx or Bengal cats.
At least they were considerate enough to take their boots off before they came in.
No offense to anyone who has a cat, but one of the reasons I have dogs is that they’ll probably wait until they get really hungry before they decide to eat your face if you die at home alone.
If you’re dead then why does it matter? You aren’t using it anymore.
I would say most people care about how their corpse is disposed of. And ‘eaten by cats’ would not be my first choice.
Nah, just throw my corpse in the organic garbage dumpster. 🤷♂️
This is all nice and cute but how will fox domestication be represented in the future by these types of comic strips?
Fox’s aren’t going to be domesticated.
Foxes dont follow a hierarchical system like dogs, cats or horses where there is an Alpha (the owner of the animal) whom they fall under in the pecking order.
Foxes like to shit and piss all over everything and burrow Into couches. Good luck with the fox thing.
That hierarchy thing was proven to be bullshit ages ago
Can you send me a link to where you heard that?
From Scientific American, “Is the Alpha Wolf Idea a Myth?”
They are not going to get domesticated WITH THAT ATTITUDE