Posted on 07/11/2020 4:18:27 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The tomcat... did not have an easy life. "The cat suffered several broken bones during its lifetime," says Haruda. And yet, based on a very conservative estimate, the animal had most likely made it past its first year of life. For Haruda and her colleagues, this is a clear indication that people had taken care of this cat.
During a research stay in Kazakhstan, the scientist examined the findings of an excavation in Dzhankent, an early medieval settlement in the south of the country which had been mainly populated by the Oghuz, a pastoralist Turkic tribe. There she discovered a very well-preserved skeleton of a cat. According to Haruda, this is quite rare because normally only individual bones of an animal are found during an excavation, which prevents any systematic conclusions from being drawn about the animal's life... after its death, the tomcat was apparently buried and therefore the entire skull including its lower jaw, parts of its upper body, legs and four vertebrae had been preserved.
...Isotope analyses of bone samples also provided the team with information about the cat's diet. Compared to the dogs found during the excavation and to other cats from that time period, this tomcat's diet was very high in protein. "It must have been fed by humans since the animal had lost almost all its teeth towards the end of its life."
DNA analyses also proved that the animal was indeed likely to be a domestic cat of the Felis catus L. species and not a closely related wild steppe cat. According to Haruda, it is remarkable that cats were already being kept as pets in this region around the 8th century AD...
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
I’m surprised this wasn’t a FieldMarshalJ post. Animals have always been mankind’s companions.
Cats are the best! They are wonderful companions and excellent entertainers. Wouldn’t be without ‘em.
:^)
Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature, An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTw8d7MLOhE
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Cats kill snakes more effectively than mongooses do.
They also kill poisonous things like scorpions.
Mice also like to nibble on tradegoods and animal feed.
Only 1000 years ago ?
Cats have had their utility in places like Egypt for 4 times that long.
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