RAW CAT ROOTS
Once upon a time—a really long time ago—the first inkling of catness happened when carnivores appeared on earth. Carnivores evolved from smaller mammals around 42 million years ago. Members of this order (which includes cats, dogs, bears, raccoons, and many other species) are defined by the structure of their teeth—which are designed to shear meat—and not by their diet. (Some members of the order Carnivora are omnivorous or even vegetarians.)
The Carnivora (evolutionarily speaking) split into two groups, or “suborders”: the doglike animals—called the Caniformia, and the catlike animals—called the Feliformia. And what exactly helped define them as “catlike”? Well, what would you call a group of ambush hunters who tended to be more carnivorous than other members of Carnivora? I’d call that the very
Rawest Cat!
A BEAUTIFUL MUTATION IS BORN! HOW NEW SPECIES COME ABOUT As we’re looking at our evolutionary cat timeline, you might be asking, “What’s with all of these splits
and divergences?” They mark periods when there was an ancestral species—the grandparent of all those cats, so to speak—and from that grandparent, a separate family branched off to do its own cat thing.
Specifically, new species form when genetic changes occur over time and cause populations to mutate. These changes often happen when a group of animals becomes isolated from other members
of the same species.
This can be due to changes in the environment—perhaps an area becomes more or less protected, or prey abundance shifts—leading some animals to move to a different territory. There can be proximity barriers, such as when islands form or a new river emerges, creating separation between groups. And there can be behavioural factors—for example, when nocturnal animals are less likely to mate with animals who are active during the day.
When cats spread to the Far East around 2,000 years ago, there were no local wildcats for these newcomers to interbreed with. This genetic isolation led to some mutations related to appearance, which led to several of the distinct features of the Oriental breeds—including the Siamese, Tonkinese, and Birmans.
Recent DNA studies suggest about 700 years of independent breeding from other breeds, and while still the same species as other domestic cats have a genetic profile that suggests they have a unique ancestor with origins in Southeast Asia.
These genetic changes are usually physical (if the two species have different features) or reproductive when two species cannot interbreed) in nature. But the lines can get a little blurry—as demonstrated y the ability of humans to produce several kinds of hybrid cats. Nonetheless, the faster the animals can reproduce, the quicker these changes can take effect (in evolutionary time, of course) and lead to new species.