Rita French, age 10, of Brownsville, Texas, for her question:
HOW LONG HAVE WE HAD CATS?
One of the smartest of all tame animals is the cat. Cats have been living with man since the most ancient of times. Cats were household pets long before the days of the ancient Egyptians.
Scientists say that the earliest cat was probably an animal called Miacis. This animal lived about 55 million years ago. Fossils show that the Miacis looked a bit like a weasel. Then members of the cat family as we know it today most likely first appeared about 40 million years ago.
The Kaffir cat of North Africa and the European wildcat were probably also the ancestors of today's domestic cats.
Scientists tell us that ancient wandering African tribesmen probably coaxed cats into their camps and made them household pets by offering them food. Then the Egyptians tamed the first cats that actually lived with man. Cats were used to keep rats and mice from over running Egyptian grain storehouses.
Egyptians in ancient days worshiped cats as gods. They believed that the goddess Bast, who represented the life giving heat of the sun, had the head of a cat.
When a pet cat died in ancient Egypt, its master shaved off his eyebrows as a sign of mourning. They made dead cats into mummies and buried them in cat cemeteries. They also put mummified rats and mice and little saucers of milk in each cat's grave.
Phoenician traders, carrying Egyptian cats on their ships, probably brought the first domesticated cats to Europe about 900 B.C. The crossing of Egyptian cats with European wildcats produced the domestic cat of Europe.
European explorers, colonists and traders brought domestic cats to the Americas during the 1700s. These animals became the ancestors of most of the cats that live in Canada anal the United States today.
Some people say that black cats are unlucky, but other people claim black cats have brought them good fortune. Many sailors say that a cat on board a ship means a lucky trip. People in many lands believe that tortoise shell cats and cats with extra toes bring good luck.
Male cats reach full growth between nine and 12 months of age. Females become adults at five to eight months. Males begin to breed when they are about a year old and females when they are about six months old.
Most cats live to be about 14 years old but some may reach the age of 18 or 19. Some have even lived past 30.
The cat is often able to escape unharmed from many dangerous situations because of its swiftness, agility and perfect sense of balance. For this reason, people often say that a cat has nine lives.