this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2024
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[–] [email protected] 110 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)

I mean, this is straight up not true. The closest truly wild house cat is a weirdo that looks like a lanky house cat, and house cat brains are physically smaller and dumber than wild ones. Also need I point out how cats also have their pug versions complete with health issues normal cats don't have?

[–] [email protected] 92 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-taming-of-the-cat/

TL;DR: You're not wrong really, but the comic isn't all that far off either.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (2 children)

The thing I think is most interesting about cat domestication is that wild cats do not meow and a domesticated cat's meow is at a similar frequency as the cry of a human baby.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 4 months ago (2 children)

The real difference is dogs have had about 30,000 more years of domesticated selective breeding.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

Yeah, they weren't exactly easy to handle from the beginning.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Actually, current estimates shows us dog domestication happened some time around 30000 years ago while cats were domesticated at the dawn of human civilizations, around 12000 years ago, so less than 20000 years of difference. Also, dogs were domesticated in multiple regions at different times, whereas cats are exclusive to two domestication events. I'm open to evidence of the contrary, of course.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Smartest animal I ever met was my indoor/outdoor cat.

Then again she was brindle and looked like a wild cat.

[–] Assman 17 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Do you mean so I could meet primates? Our zoos don't let you do that.

[–] Assman 18 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

you should go to the movie theater and have a great time watching a movie

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago (4 children)

You should go bowling

I like this game

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 4 months ago (1 children)

More like:

  • Dog - "humans are friendly! They give me food! I shall serve them!"
  • Cat - "humans are friendly! They give me food! They shall serve me!"
[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I remember a version of this, but the last line was "you/I must be god!"

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Yeah, I've always said that dogs think we're the gods and cats think they're the gods.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 4 months ago (6 children)

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...

[–] [email protected] 61 points 4 months ago (1 children)

They also helped keep grain stores free from vermin that would otherwise have cost countless lives throughout history. Our ancestors knew damn well why they wanted to keep them around.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I don't treat cats like human babies. I like cats way more

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago (2 children)

They're that good at it. (Also the toxoplasma help.)

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago

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.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 4 months ago

My cat told me not to believe these lies spread by dogs.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 4 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Domestic cats aren't shrunken down big cats, the cats we take into our homes were always this size. They originated from Felis Silvestris Lybica, a species from Egypt and North Africa... Which look fairly similar to just regular cats.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Some people say we didn't domesticate cats, but they cats domesticated us.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

What if cats are responsible for human civilization by domesticating us?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

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.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

what really happened was that a caveman saw a wolf and was like aw good boi

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Although, neutering a cat can stop the territorial urination.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There are definitely designer cat breeds.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (3 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

If it isn't broke, don't fix it

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Gahhhh account sign up blocker

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (16 children)

This is all nice and cute but how will fox domestication be represented in the future by these types of comic strips?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There's the famous Russian breeding experiment where they were able to breed domestic foxes.

The problem is that they pee every time they get excited. Which would be bad enough if it was a dog, but fox pee smells god awful.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago (7 children)

Does that actually factor in? Or do you just prefer the company of dogs? Seems like a pretty irrational fear if you ask me.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (3 children)

If you're dead then why does it matter? You aren't using it anymore.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (6 children)

Cats don't wait for you to be dead to bite

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

And then you look at Sphynx or Bengal cats.

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