Carol blankenhorn, age 16, of Selkirk, N.Y., for her question:
What was the ancestor of the house cat?
Most people are very fond of cats. We thought we had an easy way to answer this question. We consulted our favorite siamese cat. But he should have remembered that cats are by nature very secretive and independent animals. Our cat friend refused To devulge the secrets of his family tree, and Andy was forced to consult his books and check his findings with his researchers.
Most of our domestic animals would perish in the wilds. But not so the cat. She reverts to the wild state very quickly and very successfully. This is strange, since the cat may have been the first animal to have been tamed. This event, we think, occurred in Egypt more than 5000 years ago. Mummified cats, buried with sacred honors 2600 years ago, have been found in Egyptian tombs.
The house cat, of course, was adopted from a family of wildcats. The pampered Egyptian cat most likely came from the wild Kaffir cats of North Africa. These fierce marauders still exist in the wild state. They are somewhat larger and sturdier than house cats. Some are marked like tabbles, Some are yellow with black paws.
Wild Kaffir cats also swarm through the jungles of India. These sturdy fellows are brown or grey, and some of them wear collars of thicker fur. Tabby striped wildcats still live and hunt small game in Scotland and other parts of Europe. Ourd darling house cats most likely descended from an assortment of Kaffir cats and other wildcats.
The wildcats, of course, descended from catty ancestors dating back millions of years. One of the Earliest cats lived 50 million years ago, when the horses were no bigger than dogs and had not yet developed their hoofs. In those distant days, the cat was a long, slinky creature no bigger than a weasel. His descendants are the mighty lions and tigers, the spotted leopaxds, the lovable house cats and all the members of the fascinating feline family.
We do not know how the Egyptians coaxed the wild Kaffir cat to adopt the human family. But sensible people know that the house Cat is a very valuable animal. He is a deadly enemy of our enemies, the rats and mice. Most of Andy's readers also know that Miss Puss is a most rewarding pet. Give her one ounce of affection, and she rewards you with 100 ounces of affection.