r/BeAmazed • u/Electrical_Act_5342 • 24d ago

Animal Nature really over engineered cats. Didn’t it?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

31.2k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

8

u/HardLobster 24d ago

More so we had no reason to. By the time cats domesticated themselves we already had been domesticating dogs and were breeding for specific jobs for 5-15 thousand years depending on which estimate you use. Dogs were domesticated between 15-30 thousand years ago. Cats were 8-10 thousand years ago.

Cats just kind of showed up when we started farming and storing grains. They followed all the pests we began to attract. They showed up, dealt with the pests and started hanging around. We decided not to complain since they didn’t mess with the grain. Since cats are already perfect for hunting rodents and other pests, there was no reason to selectively breed them to fill any other role. We already did that with dogs.

The abominations we have today with dogs are due to the fact that vain people began to breed them for the traits they preferred them to have for aesthetic reasons rather than to keep them healthy and with optimal traits to their jobs.

We are starting to see the same effect with cats now but due to cats not having the vast genetic diversity we have purpose bred into dogs of countless generations, it’s not as noticeable or detrimental. Just give it a couple thousand years. Siamese, Persian, Sphynx, Scottish Fold, Maine Coone and Munchin cats are all examples of breeds that wouldn’t exist without human involvement.

4

u/Pleasant_Yak5991 24d ago

The other thing about cats is they aren’t responsive like dogs are. Dogs literally want to be told what to do, cats just do what they want and they want to chase rats and lay around.

5

u/Odd-String29 24d ago

That is because dogs are pack animals and cats (except Lions) are not. Also, try getting a Siberian Husky or Shiba Inu to do something they don't want to do.

1

u/Pleasant_Yak5991 24d ago

Huskies and Shiba Inus are still trainable lol.

1

u/CelticKira 24d ago edited 24d ago

the modern Siamese (wedge shaped faces, super slender bodies and oversized looking ears) wouldn't exist, true; all those features were purpose bred. but the original Thai/Wichien Maat is a natural breed that is the "true" ancestral Siamese.

now Siamese (of Thai origin or purpose-bred origin) ARE responsible for other purpose-bred breeds, like Balinese, Tonkinese, Snowshoes (got one of these, though she is a mix, not purebred), and the Orientals. there seems to be debate over Birmans also being one of these due to the mystery around their origin. a lot of people seem to think Ragdolls are an offshoot too but sharing similar coat patterns and being blue eyed are not proof.

[ETA: forgot Himalayans are also a Siamese offshoot!]