Cat: Classification, domestic cat

Cat

Domestic Cat
 
Felis silvestris catus

Classification

Subspecies
Felis silvestris catus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
 

Cat skull
                 
The domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) is a mammalian carnivore family of felines. It is a major pet and now some fifty breeds recognized by various certification bodies.

Essentially territorial, the cat is a predator of small prey like rodents. Cats have various vocalizations including purring and meowing, although they primarily communicate by facial and body positions and pheromones.

According to the results of work conducted in 2006 and 2007 the domestic cat is a subspecies of the wildcat (Felis silvestris) that he has probably diverged 130 000 years ago. The first domestication had occurred there are 8 000 to 10 000 years to the Neolithic in the Fertile Crescent, a time corresponding to the beginning of the cereal crop and ensiling of reserves could be attacked by rodents, the cat then becomes to man a useful auxiliary suitable for domestication.

First revered by the Egyptians, he was demonized in Europe in the Middle Ages and never regained its former glory until the eighteenth century. In Asia, the cat remains synonymous with luck.

This cat has left its mark on popular culture and art, both through 'popular expressions that various representations in the literature, the painting or the music.

The male cat is commonly called a "chat" while the female is a "cat" and the young one "kitten". The word cat derives from the Vulgar Latin that cattus from the Littre in his edition of 1878, cattare from the verb, which means watching this cat being regarded as a hunter stalking his prey. This interpretation is controversial, given the terms used in the Afro-Asiatic languages. In classical Latin, "cat" thought felis, But meant only the wild cat of Europe, while cattus applied to the domestic cat.

It also means more familiarly by pussy cat and kitten by kitten. This term attested since 1560, from mine, popular name of cat in Gallo-Roman. This word is the origin of the expression at crack of dawn, which means "good morning". According to Littre, it would be a strain to feed the kitty, that is to say when the cat, who gets up early, fetch his pasture: its food, its food ... This explanation is probably the modesty of the author of the nineteenth century: by Claude Duneton this expression from Poitron-backgammon, backgammon designating a squirrel (Animal morning walking the tail lifted) and Poitron designating the post. Potron soon - twink therefore means: "at a time when we see the back of the cat. As for the "boyish" or "pussy" which "mine", when this term is applied to humans, is a young man or young girl who tries to please and is very concerned appearance

A male cat not neutered is a "cat", a term of uncertain origin that might come with a derivation of mite like chattemite The cat is also colloquially called "mistigri" portmanteau word composed of the prefix miste, meaning clever, and gray color

In slang, a cat is called a "clerk" Two opposing explanations, which may make only one: on the one hand, the wordplay is evident on shoe on the other hand, the fur of some black cats has a sort of breastplate White chest, and it evokes the white bands that we saw on the black dress clerks until the nineteenth century