weird facts
Your hunch is correct. Your cat decided to live with you, not the other way around. The sad truth is, it may not be a final decision.
But don’t take this feline diffidence personally. It runs in the family. And it goes back a long way — about 12,000 years, actually.
Those are among the inescapable conclusions of a genetic study of the origins of the domestic cat, being published today in the journal Science.
The findings, drawn from an analysis of nearly 1,000 cats around the world, suggest that the ancestors of today’s tabbies, Persians and Siamese wandered into Near Eastern settlements at the dawn of agriculture. They were looking for food, not friendship.
They found what they were seeking in the form of rodents feeding on stored grain. They stayed for 12 millennia, although not without wandering off now and again to consort with their wild cousins.
The story is quite different from that of other domesticated animals: cattle, sheep, goats, horses — and dogs, cats’ main rivals for human affection. It may even provide insight on the behavior of the animal that, if not man’s best friend, is certainly his most inscrutable.
“It is a story about one of the more important biological experiments ever undertaken,” said Stephen J. O’Brien, a molecular geneticist at the National Cancer Institute’s laboratory in Frederick, Md., and one of the supervisors of the project.
“We think what happened is that cats sort of domesticated themselves,” said Carlos A. Driscoll, the University of Oxford graduate student who did the work, which required him, among other things, to befriend feral cats on the Mongolian steppes.
Today, there are 37 species in the family Felidae, ranging from lions through ocelots down to little Mittens. All domestic cats are descended from the species Felis sylvestris (”cat of the woods”), which goes by the common name “wildcat.”
The species is indigenous to Europe, the Middle East and East Asia. The New World, Japan and Oceania lack wildcats. North America’s closest counterpart is the lynx.
There are five subspecies of wildcats, and they look very much like many pet cats, particularly non-pedigree ones. The Scottish wildcat, for example, is indistinguishable from a barn cat with a mackerel tabby coat. These animals, however, are a true wild species. They are not escaped pets that have become feral, or reverted to the wild.
Driscoll and his collaborators, who included Oxford zoologist David Macdonald, took blood samples and ear punch biopsies from all wildcat subspecies as well as from fancy-breed cats, non-pedigree pet cats and feral cats. They analyzed two kinds of genetic fingerprints: nuclear DNA, which carries nearly all of an animal’s genes and reflects inheritance from both parents, and mitochondrial DNA, which exists outside the cell nucleus, carries only a few genes and descends through the generations only from mothers.
Both fingerprints showed that domesticated cats around the world are most closely related to the wildcat subspecies (called lybica) that lives in the Near East. (War prevented the sampling of Iraqi wildcats, but the researchers believe those animals are of the same species as animals they collected samples from in Israel and on the Arabian Peninsula.)
One might think that people in each region would have domesticated their local wildcats. In that case, European pet cats today would genetically most closely resemble European wildcats and Chinese cats would be descended from East Asian wildcats. But that isn’t the case.
Why not?
Genetics can’t answer the question, but history and archaeology can provide a good guess.
Large-scale grain agriculture began in the Near East’s Fertile Crescent. With the storage of surplus grain came mice, which fed on it and contaminated it.
Settled farming communities with dense rodent populations were a new habitat. Wildcats came out of the woods and grasslands to exploit it. They may have lived close to man — but not petting-close — for centuries.
Eventually, though, natural selection favored individual animals whose genetic makeup by chance made them tolerant of human contact. Such behavior provided them with things — a night indoors, the occasional bowl of milk — that allowed them to out-compete their scaredy-cat relatives.
For people, it was a great package — agriculture, food surplus (and all the civilizing effects that came with it), with domesticated cats thrown in to protect the wealth by eating the mice.
“When that technology was transferred to other cultures, so were the cats,” said Robert Wayne, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California in Los Angeles. Therein lies the reason other cultures didn’t domesticate local wildcats, he said. “Why reinvent the wheel?”
This is not true with other acts of animal domestication.
Genetic studies have shown that cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and water buffalo were all domesticated at least twice in independent events. With horses, it happened many times.
The consequence of one other feline behavior — the average cat’s uncertainty about whether it wants to be indoors or out — was also written in the genes Driscoll studied.
He found that a significant fraction of wildcats in Europe, southern Africa and central Asia were hybrids. They carried genetic evidence of having tomcatted around from time to time with their domesticated relatives.
[Via - Anxus.Com]
Australian Santas Not Allowed To Say “Ho Ho Ho”, Because It Might Offend Women
An Iranian Court Orders a Man to Give His Wife 124,000 Roses
Who else wants to get our free internet "Business-In-A-Box" ?
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Why Do Cats Hang Around Us? | Weird Facts
weird facts
Your hunch is correct. Your cat decided to live with you, not the other way around. The sad truth is, it may not be a final decision.
But don’t take this feline diffidence personally. It runs in the family. And it goes back a long way — about 12,000 years, actually.
Those are among the inescapable conclusions of a genetic study of the origins of the domestic cat, being published today in the journal Science.
Credit Card Which Is Right For You ?
Are you a student ? Have you ever thought of getting a credit card which suits you best ? Here are a few tips for you kindly granted by consolidate credit card debt
When comparing student credit cards, ask the following questions:
1. What is the APR (Annual Percentage Rate) charged on the card? Most student credit cards come with great 0% APR introductory offers, but these typically expire in as little as six months. While it’s best to pay your card off in full every month, many students find that they do carry a balance. If that is likely to be the case for you, pick a card with a low annual percentage rate (APR). It’s not uncommon for interest rates to vary from 11.99% to 19.99%, so you will save quite a bit over the long term by going with the card with the lowest interest rate.
2. What is the introductory offer? Some cards offer a 0% APR for balance transfers, some a 0% APR on purchases, and a few offer this rate on purchases, balance transfers, and cash advances. If you have a balance on another card you may wish to transfer it to a new card. Think about how you mainly will be using the card—for purchases, or make a balance transfer from another card. Then choose the card that best fits your needs. As always, it’s prudent financial sense to take cash advances only in an emergency.
3. Which other benefits does the card offer? Many credit cards award you additional benefits, such as cash back or reward points on purchases. These can accumulate into additional perks over time. Again, choose the rewards that best match your interests.
4. Is the APR a fixed rate or a variable rate? Many credit cards come with a variable rate APR, which means that the APR is linked to a financial index. The rate will go up or down as this economic indicator changes, raising or lowering the interest rate on your account. A fixed rate will not change with the financial markets.
5. What are the penalty fees? What are the penalty fees for making a late payment or exceeding the credit limit on the card? Read the Terms and Conditions carefully in order to understand the charges and your responsibilities as an accountholder.
6. What is the default rate and what triggers it? If you are late on a payment or miss a payment altogether, credit card issuers reserve the right to convert your standard APR to a higher default rate. Default rates typically are exceptionally high, often in excess of 30%. Some agreements also let card issuers raise the rate if you default on another loan. Read the fine print to find out what would trigger a default on the card agreement and be sure to avoid any actions that would cause you to be in default.
Are you ready to select one now ?
Here is a link: consolidate credit card debt
Friday, May 2, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Mexican bus drivers say they deserve tips | Weird Facts
weird facts
MEXICO CITY — So what if they rage through traffic, cause at least one accident a day and barely stop for passengers. Drivers of Mexico City's rickety old "pesero" buses say they deserve tips for their harrowing rides.
Since the city approved a fare hike only for newer buses, the union representing pesero drivers says passengers will be asked to pay tips of at least 50 Mexican cents ($0.05) on top of their normal fares to cover gasoline, maintenance and driver training.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Finding People Made Easy With a Spoke Search
The internet search engines are constantly evolving. The problem with older search engines like Google, is they are based on methodical and robotic algorithms. The future of search engines will include some social or “voting” aspect to it.
I found a search engine called Spock, coined a ”People search engine” that bases search engine results on Tags. Registered Users of spock can vote down a tag if they feel it is notrelated to something. This helps give a better search experience because people are voting on what is related to what based on keyword tags.
When you search for an item or person, you get pictures of your search, related tags and their pictures, and then finally results from Google. It gives you a nice comprehensive addition, over just searching on google.
Britain, which has long prided itself on a reputation for good manners, is becoming increasingly rude, according to a new poll. | Weird Facts
weird facts
Highly-paid footballers and celebrities are setting a bad example, according to the survey, put out today.
It listed spitting and swearing as the most offensive forms of behaviour.
Almost nine out of 10 people - 86.2 per cent - think Britons have become ruder than a decade ago, the poll for the ITV1 Tonight television program found.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Rats From Infested House Offered Up for Adoption As Pets | Weird Facts
weird facts
ROCHESTER, Wash. — Rats from a heavily infested house here are being trapped to be offered for adoption as pets.
After being alerted by neighbors, Thurston County animal control officials served a search warrant on April 9 at the residence of Michele Diller, 64. They found that pet rats had ruined the house, chewing through walls, cupboards, drawers and wires, soaking carpets with urine and covering floors with feces. The officials removed a cat, four severely malnourished snakes, five mice and two rats.
Joined the 3gb Community Already ?
Recently found this website, called 3gb. I am pretty sure that you're familiar with a lot of social networking sites. So do I, but somehow i prefer this one.
After a registration you get 2 gb of storage space, not only it allows you to get in touch with old friends, make new friends, post pictures and videos but it even lets you listen to MP3 tracks and radio as well.
But what i really like about this site is that it's simple, easy to use and it's so much fun :)
Now remember this is a new community so it’s not like Hurox, Harley Social, AllSmackTalk, MySpace, or even Facebook which means there aren’t a lot of people using it yet but that also means that there isn’t a bunch of crazy people on the network either. It’s really a great way to meet new people. I personally am all about networking so I am going to use the site to network with others around the world.
I'm not a fan of writing a long reviews. Just go on and check it out for yourself. If you like it, than you like it :) Try it here: 3gb
Don't forget to come back and leave some comments. What's perfect already? What needs to be changed ?
Weird Facts: US prisoner sues over weight loss
weird facts
An overweight prisoner in the United States is suing the authorities for not feeding him enough after he lost about seven stone (45kg) in jail.
Broderick Lloyd Laswell, who is awaiting trial for murder, dropped to 22 stone (140kg) after eight months inside the Arkansas prison.
He claims his vision has gone blurry while trying to exercise.
The prison says the meals average 3,000 calories a day - more than the US recommended daily intake for adults.
