CATS ONLY RECENTLY DOMESTICATED

Unlike their canines who have been domesticated for some 30,000 years, the first cats have only been domesticated for around 9,000 years.  And with the 30-40 modern breeds only being domesticated for about 150 years, felines have not had nearly as long as dogs to form the same bond (but cat owners don’t seem to mind).

A new cat genome project was conducted by the Washington University School of Medicine.  They found significant differences in the regions of the cat genome concerning memory, fear and reward-seeking behavior.  Researchers hypothesize that these changes arose as cats began to live among humans and were fed to stay around and keep rats and other pests away.

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