Saturday, 11 October 2014

Cat Evolution................the potted version

The earliest ancestor of the cat evolved 200 million years ago from reptiles. All carnivores evolved from an extinct order of mammals called Creodonts who lived 50-60 million years ago. The creodonts were about the shoulder height of a domestic cat and were primitive fish eating mammals. The dental pattern of modern day cats is similar to that found in fossilised remains of creodonts.


 
At the same time, around 60 million years ago, another group of animals the miacids evolved.
The miacis was a weasel like animal who are believed to have evolved into the mammals of the order carnivora. The miacids had cat-like cutting teeth and these evolved into the carnivores of today - including some cats.
 
 
During the Paleocene period , 35-65 million years ago, the Miacids had split into two groups which were to become the cats and the dogs.
 
 
Proailurus was the first true cat. It lived around 30 million years ago and was smaller than the domestic cat.
 
Pseudaelurus is a prehistoric cat that lived 20 million years ago during the Miocene period.
Pseudaelurus is a successor to Proailurus and the ancestor of the modern cats.
Pseudaelurus was an agile wildcat to cougar sized feline that roamed Eurasia, Africa and North America. Their skeletons are very similar to that of the modern big cats. the slender proportion of the cat together with its short legs suggest it may have been a tree climber.
 
The Nimravids, similar to the sabre tooth cats, date back 35 million years ago but are long extinct.
 
 
Modern cats appeared 10.8 million years ago in South-east Asia.

There are 37 species of cat today from the Lion to the domestic cat and these are divided up into 8 lineages.

The ancestor of todays cats was a panther-like creature that evolved into the big cat family Panthera.
Panthera includes the lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards, snow leopards, clouded leopards and Bornean clouded leopard. All of the big cats roar with the exception of the two clouded leopard species.

Nine million years ago, the bat cat lineage evolved. Small to medium sized sized cats, the Bay Cats -  Asian Golden Cat, Borneo Bay Cat and marbled  are restricted to forested areas in South-east Asia.
The next branch emerged 8.5 million years ago with the caracals. The Caracal, African Golden Cat, and serval are all native to Africa. they have distinctive long legs and large ears.
At the same time the cats were travelling to the American continent.
Eight million years ago the ocelot family formed. The  ocelots - Geoffroy's cat, kodkod, tigrina, Andean Mountain cat, pampas cat, margay and ocelot inhabit central and South America.
A little over 7 million years, the lynx ancestor appeared in North America. The lynx all live in the northern temperate climates of Europe (Iberian Lynx), North Asia (Eurasian Lynx), and North America (Bobcat and Canada Lynx)
The puma lineage formed 6.7 million years ago and split into the puma (North and South America), jaguarondi (South America) and cheetah (Africa).
Six million years ago, the ancestors of the leopard cat arrived from America. The asian leopard cat, fishing cat, flat-headed cat, rusty-spotted cat and  Pallas cat would become the dominant cat lineage in Asia.
Finally, 3 million years ago emerged the felis family wildcats, sand cat, black-footed cat and jungle cat
The domestic cat  is descended from the African Wildcat. This was determined by sampling the DNA from domestic and wildcats.
The African wildcats main prey is small rodents like rats and mice. They were believed to have been domesticated over 5000 years ago by the Egyptians to control the rats and mice raiding their granaries

Cat Watch 2014 and studying "Wild cats"

I immensely enjoyed watching Catwatch 2014 over the 3 nights this week. This was a worthy successor to last year's The Secret Life of the Cat.

The programme was well presented by Liz Bonnin, great camera work, brilliant insights into the cats daily life provided by GPS  and collar cams. interesting comparisons between the farm cats which were largely sociable like lions and the city cats which were solitary and territorial.

The two Scientists Sarah Ellis and John Bradshaw provided us with meaningful insights into cat behaviour, did not blind us with science and well entertained us.

Living in the UK,  my only opportunity to see wild cats is in our Zoos and Wildlife Parks, the best of which I am a big supporter.


Watching my tabby and white cat, Charlie on a daily basis does provide me with an insight into the world of the wild cat.

The domestic cat leads a double life. In the home he is one of the family Once he leaves the cat flap, he becomes a solitary hunter, independent, a free living wild cat...The Terminator.





Charles Felis Catus chooses to live with us. I do not own him, he is an independent free spirit.
Inside every domestic cat beats the heart of a lion. Watching domestic cats is a glimpse into the world of the wild cat










Friday, 10 October 2014

Ecology and Cats

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations between organism and their environment.
The goal of ecology is to explain the patterns seen in the natural world.
Investigation into these patterns involve assessing the influence of biological and non biological factors.
Biological factors are all living things ( plants and animals) in an ecosystem.
Plants range from the savannah grass to the trees in the rainforest.
Animals range from a beetle to the mighty lion.
Non biological factors include sunlight, soil, water, temperature and oxygen levels.
Populations of organisms that share a habitat and interact with one another form a community.
On a larger scale, the interactions and interdependencies that connect organisms and their environments comprise an ecosystem.

Consider four examples;

1. Cats and bumblebees
What is the link between Bumble Bees, Red Clover, Field Mice and Cats?

Charles Darwin observed that Red Clover flourished with an increased local cat population
Why?
Field Mice destroy bumble bee nests,
The bumble bee is a major pollinator of red clover.
Cats hunt and kill field mice.
So the cats by preying on the mice, meant that more bumble bees survived to pollinate red clover.

2. Savannah fires and Lions
Natural fires during the dry season burn the vegetation to ground level.
This kills most fire intolerant shrubs and trees. Grasses are well adapted to live in dry regions prone to drought and fire. Grasses grow from their base rather than their tips and much of the plants energy is stored underground in their root system. So following a fire the grass can send up new growth,
Without fires the savannah would become forest ( the grazing herds also help control the growth of shrubs and trees. The huge herds of ungulates, wildebeest and zebras feed on the grasslands.
If the grasslands were not there than the savannah could not support the huge herds.
Without the huge herds the savannah could not support the quantity of big cats.
Thus without the natural fires, a large population would not exist.

3.Habitat decline and Cat numbers
In an area where the number of big cats have declined or disappeared, the number of the prey species increases and may increase rapidly. This may affect the types of plants in the ecosystem due to the browsing habits of the prey species and over grazing will lead to habitat decline

4. Mountain lions and Deer
Apart from habitat decline as in (3) it has also been observed in an area where the mountain lion has declined, deer populations have  grown unhealthy due to weak animals breeding which would have otherwise become prey.



















 


DNA and genetic science are now certain that the domestic cat  is descended from the African Wildcat. This was determined by sampling the DNA from domestic and wildcats at different "marker" spots in the genomes.
They were believed to have been domesticated over 5000 years ago by the Egyptians to control the rats and mice raiding their granaries.



The African Wildcat is found across Africa with the exception of the Sahara
The African Wildcat is similar in appearance to the domestic tabby cat but slightly larger with a coat sandy brown to yellow grey in colour with black stripes on the tail. Its fur is shorter than that of the European wildcats . It is also considerably smaller.
The African Wildcat has a head to body length of 45 to 75cm with a tail of 20 to 38cm. The wildcat stands about 35cm at the shoulder. The wildcat ranges in weight from 3 to 6 kgey are found in most habitat types with the exception of true dessert. The African Wildcat is similar in appearance to the domestic tabby cat but slightly larger with a coat sandy brown to yellow grey in colour with black stripes on the tail. Its fur is shorter than that of the European wildcats . It is also considerably smaller.
The African Wildcat has a head to body length of 45 to 75cm with a tail of 20 to 38cm. The wildcat stands about 35cm at the shoulder. The wildcat ranges in weight from 3 to 6 kg.
African Wildcats prey on small mammals such as rats, mice, hyraxes, hares, the young of small antelopes, birds, invertebrates and reptiles. the cat uses stealth to approach its prey and then pounces once within range
 
The African Wildcat occasionally comes into conflict with farmers by taking lambs and poultry.
Reproduction:  Mating occurs  between July and January and the young are born between September and March. The African Wildcat has a gestation period of around 60 days. The female gives birth to 2-4 kittens in a secluded den which is a burrow or hollow in the ground. Most kittens are born in the wet season when food is abundant.The kittens are born blind and helpless when born and their eyes open at 10-14 days old. After 4-5 weeks the kittens are mobile and begin to accompany their mother on hunting trips at about 3 months. By 5 months they are fully independent. The kittens are fully grown at one year  and the females are sexually mature at this age. males are fully mature at age 2-3.
Vocalisation: They make similar sounds to the domestic cat - hissing, mewing, purring, spitting.

Thursday, 9 October 2014

Are we serious about saving the Scottish Wildcat ?
Is there the same interest in saving the Scottish Wildcat as other endangered cats..
Are the wildlife collections talking to one another? Is there an organised captive breeding programme.
Sid and Skye have been at Port Lympne for 10 years and have not bred
I have heard on several occasions that there is no active breeding programme because the purity of the cats is not known....
How difficult is it to administer a DNA test.
I do not believe that wildlife havens will save the Scottish wildcat.
I think it would be a tragedy to lose our own little tiger.
Its time for the zoos to step up.


Firstly, I would like to say I am a supporter of Zoos. I believe we need captive  breeding programmes. Continued habitat loss will continue to threaten  cat species.

There are still plenty of zoos that I would like to see closed...those with cages and tiny enclosures.

Wildlife Parks such as Marwell and Port  Lympne are models for the modern zoo.

I was a supporter of the Born Free Foundation and have in the past supported them through animal adoption but I do not agree with their black and white anti zoo stance.