I…am…Catatron!
Saffy on the door, originally uploaded by 160507.
Tina just got back from Borneo, and reports that Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, Malaysia is Cat City. (‘Kuching’ is Malay for cat, close to ‘kuting’ which is Tagalog for kitten.) There are statues of cats on street corners, and a cat museum, which is like the Villa Escudero of Kuching. Across the street from the Holiday Inn there’s a group of cat statues about twelve feet high. Catzilla! No live cats loitering on the streets, though; if you want to see cats walking around as if they own the place (which they do), go to Rome.
A new study says cats domesticated themselves in the Near East 10,000 years ago. At that time humans had moved on from hunting and gathering to agriculture, and begun to stay put. They built houses and granaries, so rodent problems soon followed. Some clever wildcats entered the settlements, demonstrated their pest control skills and wielded their charms, and before long they were living with the humans. I know exactly how this happened. “Hmm. We could continue to live out in the wild, which is dangerous, or we could move in with these upright creatures and make them feed us. We can still hunt for our own entertainment, and we only have to look cute. Suckers!”
So it was their own choice, which explains why they now strut around with an expression that says, “You’re not the boss of me.” They don’t really meow in the wild, you know, they’re only doing it to humor us.
Now my cats are trying to domesticate me. Help.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 2nd, 2007 at 00:04
have you read about this parasite whose life cycle includes using both cats and mice as hosts? it affects the brains of infected mice so they become overly aggressive and lose their fear of cats. they are therefore easily caught and eaten by the cats who then host another generation of parasites which are propagated through cat shit. recent studies show that a majority of human catowners become lifetime carriers of this parasite. recently, scientists have discovered how the parasite affects brains of humans. the hosts get an absolutely irresistible urge to post pictures of their cats on the internet.