Science and Engineering: Innovation, Research, Education and Economics
Cats Category
Great posts about cats: Engineering a Camera for Your Cat - Treadmill Cats: Friday Cat Fun #3 - Origins of the Domestic Cat - And Now for Something Completely Different - Leopard Bests Crocodile
June 23, 2009

The Evolution of House Cats

Fritz the Cat Photo shows Fritz the Cat - see photos Fritz took.

Scientific American has a long and interesting article on: The Evolution of House Cats

It is by turns aloof and affectionate, serene and savage, endearing and exasperating. Despite its mercurial nature, however, the house cat is the most popular pet in the world. A third of American households have feline members, and more than 600 million cats live among humans worldwide.

Together the transport of cats to the island and the burial of the human with a cat indicate that people had a special, intentional relationship with cats nearly 10,000 years ago in the Middle East. This locale is consistent with the geographic origin we arrived at through our genetic analyses. It appears, then, that cats were being tamed just as humankind was establishing the first settlements in the part of the Middle East known as the Fertile Crescent.

Over time, wildcats more tolerant of living in human-dominated environments began to proliferate in villages throughout the Fertile Crescent. Selection in this new niche would have been principally for tameness, but competition among cats would also have continued to influence their evolution and limit how pliant they became. Because these proto–domestic cats were undoubtedly mostly left to fend for themselves, their hunting and scavenging skills remained sharp. Even today most domesticated cats are free agents that can easily survive independently of humans, as evinced by the plethora of feral cats in cities, towns and countrysides the world over.

So are today’s cats truly domesticated? Well, yes—but perhaps only just. Although they satisfy the criterion of tolerating people, most domestic cats are feral and do not rely on people to feed them or to find them mates. And whereas other domesticates, like dogs, look quite distinct from their wild ancestors, the average domestic cat largely retains the wild body plan. It does exhibit a few morphological differences, however—namely, slightly shorter legs, a smaller brain and, as Charles Darwin noted, a longer intestine, which may have been an adaptation to scavenging kitchen scraps.

Cats are Cool :-)

Related: Origins of the Domestic Cat - The Engineer That Made Your Cat a Photographer - DNA Offers New Insight Concerning Cat Evolution - Genetic Research Suggests Cats ‘Domesticated Themselves’

May 1, 2009
March 20, 2009

Friday Cat Fun #14: Scuba Cat

Scuba cat with pal - scuba dog. What does scuba stand for? Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.

Related: Friday Cat Fun with a Guest Star: A Dolphin - fun with cats - Friday Dog Fun

March 5, 2009

Rare Saharan Cheetahs Photographed

photo of Saharan Cheetah© Farid Belbachir/ZSL/OPNA

The first systematic camera trap survey across the central Sahara, identified four different Saharan cheetahs using spot patterns unique to each individual. ‘The Saharan cheetah is critically endangered, yet virtually nothing is known about the population, so this new evidence, and the ongoing research work, is hugely significant,’ said Dr Sarah Durant, Zoological Society of London Senior Research Fellow.

Farid Belbachir, who is implementing the field survey, adds: ‘This is an incredibly rare and elusive subspecies of cheetah and current population estimates, which stand at less than 250 mature individuals, are based on guesswork. This study is helping us to turn a corner in our understanding, providing us with information about population numbers, movement and ecology.’

The Northwest African cheetah is found over the Sahara desert and savannas of North and West Africa, respectively, including Algeria, Niger, Mali, Benin, Burkina-Faso and Togo. The populations are very fragmented and small, with the biggest thought to be found in Algeria.

Read the full press release

Related: Cheetahs Released into the Wild - Using Cameras Monitoring To Aid Conservation Efforts - Jaguars Back in the Southwest USA - Rare Chinese Mountain Cat

January 30, 2009

Friday Cat Fun #12: Cat and Puppies

Cat, Neo, is surrounded by puppy agent smiths.

Related: Bunny and Kittens - Leopard Bests Crocodile - fun with cats - Friday Dog Fun

January 16, 2009

Friday Cat Fun #11: Ninja Cat Stair Climbing

Another video of a curious cat experimenting to learn about the road less traveled.

Related: Treadmill Cats - The Wonderful Life of a Cat - Curious Cat and a Toilet - Photos by Your Cat

December 26, 2008

Friday Cat Fun #10: Cat and Crow Friends

Very cool, it is amazing what happens in life. And that bird is remarkably patient. Getting, even playfully, ambushed by a cat doesn’t seem like something what would come naturally. At least with polar bears and huskies they both are used to playing rough with their own.

Related: fun with cats - Bunny and Kittens - Bird Brains: thinking crows - Photos by Fritz the Cat - animal planet on the cat and crow

December 12, 2008
December 5, 2008

Friday Cat Fun #8: Cat Ridding a Roomba

This cat seems to enjoy the ride as a Roomba vacuums. My cat would always go crazy when the vacuum cleaner went on.

Buy a Roomba for your cat to ride. Or get your cat a camera and put their photography online. You can also shop for people with our selection of some science and engineering gadgets and gifts.


Related: Gutter Cleaning Robot - Treadmill Cats - Cat Ridding the Bus - The Wonderful Life of a Cat

November 14, 2008
October 24, 2008

Friday Fun: Tortoise and the Cat

Once again the tortoise show persistence can pay off:

a fierce little tortoise that would not allow a cat to invade what it perceived to be its territory. Instead, it actively sets about attacking and ultimately expelling the feline, which at first cannot believe the sheer audacity of this small but spirited creature.

Ever-encroaching urbanisation is just one of the onslaughts natural spaces around the world are facing. The killer tortoise of Port Elizabeth, South Africa as this little fellow has become known is a small but powerful symbol that some things are worth fighting for.

Related: Bunny and Kittens - Backyard Wildlife: Turtle - fun with cats - Ageless Turtles

September 5, 2008
August 29, 2008

Blinking Cats: Friday Cat Fun #4

Blinking Cats

What is your cat trying to tell you? A blinking cat is a happy cat. Blinking in cats is a signal that they recognize the presence of another cat in their vicinity but they are not going to fight it. A blink sends the message: “You are my friend. I am not angry. I am not threatened, or threatening.”

This kind of message is very important in the wild, where cats battle for territory. Run across a neighboring cat and you’d better make your intentions clear, or you may find yourself in a fight. The blink serves to say: all’s well here.

So, why do cats blink at us, when we aren’t cats and don’t understand such feline messages? Well — do you ever speak to your cat?

Related: Cat Eye Blinking - My cat ran up a $300 water bill - Origins of the Domestic Cat - more fun with cats

August 22, 2008
August 8, 2008
August 4, 2008

Cheetahs Released into the Wild

photo of 4 cheetahs in Kenya

Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) Re-introduces Five Cheetahs into the Wild

It’s very important to closely monitor the behaviours of the individual cats to ensure their health and adaptation to their new environment. CCF has been conducting research on re-introductions and this is the third project. There is not a lot of suitable habitat due to the extent of land under livestock production and habituated cheetahs need large uninhabited areas. NamibRand is ideally suited for this long-term re-introduction project.”

This is the first time a structured re-introduction is being attempted. Previous attempts to re-introduce cheetah into this area have not been successful due to various reasons including unsuitable animals and the lack of an intensive, long-term monitoring program. The cheetahs chosen for this release are likely to settle into the area as they are habituated and will allow access to tracking. In addition, these cheetahs, having lived in a large camp and have been successful in hunting game previously and it is expected that they will successfully adapt tot their new environment.

One aim of the NamibRand Nature Reserve is to restore the balance of the natural ecosystem. Up until thirty years ago there were cheetah in this area of the country. However, livestock farming practices have eliminated cheetah in this region. Since the establishment of the NamibRand Reserve, game populations have increased substantially, providing adequate prey for these cheetah. Nils Odendaal, CEO of NamibRand Nature Reserve said “we are thrilled to finally be able to release cheetah on the Reserve, as it has been an ambition of ours for several years to restore cheetah to the area, creating a holistic ecosystem.”

via: Near Extinct Cheetahs Released in the Wild

Photo by John Hunter (of different Cheetahs in Kenya).

Related: Wild Tiger Survival at Risk - DNA Offers New Insight Concerning Cat Evolution - Big Big Lions - posts on big cats

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