Friday, May 11, 2007

Ok so here we go!

Ok so here we go about cats. So who was the first cat...when did it all begin, in evolutionary terms? The first cats appeared on earth about 30 million years ago...in a period known as Oligocene, an era known for its lack of new evolutionary mammalian species during the time Greek ὀλίγος (oligos, few) and καινός (kainos, new). The start of the period is marked by a major extinction event, possibly caused by an asteroid impact in Siberia!
The cat then evolved into its 41 known species today, roughly 10.8 million years ago. Today the whole cat family is known as Felidae. The domestic cat is known as Felis Catus whereas the wild cat is called Felis Sylvestris. The closest known relatives of the feline include mongooses, civets and surprisingly hyenas (enemy no 1 of the top cat...lion). As the cats evolved, they migrated across land bridges millions of years ago, moving to all the continents of the world. After geological changes in earth's crust, cats continued to reside in their respective areas, exemplified by existence of lions and leopards along with other cats in Asia and Africa (and previously in Europe and America).
Ok enough about evolution and nerdy stuff! In the next post I'm gonna look at cats today, and what's going on with them!

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