October 16, 2009
Q. An estimated one-third of American households have feline members, and more than 600 million cats live among humans worldwide. Whereas other animals have been domesticated for their milk, meat, wool or labor, cats contribute virtually nothing in the way of sustenance or work. So why have they become the most popular of pets?
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, say Carlos Driscoll et al. in Scientific American magazine. 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.”
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