Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?
Feral cats are members of the species F. catus. They were domesticated from either the European, Middle Eastern*, or African Wildcat (if you go by genetics, its probably the Middle Eastern Wildcat, if you go by morphology, European, if you go by development, African---in the old classification system)...current thinking trends towards Middle Eastern, but it used to be a African or European toss-up. The earliest indications of domestication date back about 9500 years from excavations at Cyprus, but (based on genetics) 12,000 years is also in contention. Either way, where dogs had a reason for being domesticated before farming, cats were domesticated because of farming. Something had to keep the rats out of the grain.
It used to be (when I specifically studied wild cats in an internship during my pre-Navy undergrad career) that the wildcat** was divided into three species--Felis lybica (African Wildcat), F. sylvestris and F. sylvestris sylvestris (the Middle Eastern Wildcat and its sub-species the European Wildcat), and F. bieti (Chinese or Asian Wildcat or Mountain Cat, depending on source), which were all divided into a number of subspecies...this division was on the basis of morphology and lifestyle/location. It was thought that these three species were descended from a common ancestor of F. margarita (Sand Cat) around the same time, but with F. biete branching off first, F. lybica next, and F. sylvestris branching off the ancestor of F. lybica (though this was always a fairly contentious limb of the Felid family tree).
Due to genetics and further palentological studies, this has shifted a bit...and it is still contentious--and how its divied up depends on the source. Felis sylvestris is the name of the wildcat species, with the exception of F. bieti (though some scientists do put it there as F. sylvestris bieti). It has 5 subspecies (per the IUCN)--F. sylvestris sylvestris (European wildcat), F. sylvestris lybica (African wildcat), F. sylvestris cafra (S. African wildcat), F. sylvestris ornata (Asian wildcat), and F. sylvestris bieti (Chinese mountain cat (or desert cat)) (see pic). Some sources still use the old idea though.
to explain, Clade I represents F. s. sylvestris, Clade 2 is F. s. cafra, Clade 3 is F. s. ornata, Clade 4 is F. s. lybica, Clade 5 is F. s. bieti (or F. biete), and Clade 6 is F. margarita... The pie charts represent the type of mitochondrial DNA. The funky thing going on in GB is possibly due to hybridization of feral cats in the wildcat population.
*The F. sylvestris=Middle Eastern wildcat idea has largely gone away due to genetic studies
**wild cat=any of the 41 (give or take a few for scientific disagreement) non-domesticated species in the family Felidae vs wildcat=specific grouping of feli
Originally posted by anunitu
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It used to be (when I specifically studied wild cats in an internship during my pre-Navy undergrad career) that the wildcat** was divided into three species--Felis lybica (African Wildcat), F. sylvestris and F. sylvestris sylvestris (the Middle Eastern Wildcat and its sub-species the European Wildcat), and F. bieti (Chinese or Asian Wildcat or Mountain Cat, depending on source), which were all divided into a number of subspecies...this division was on the basis of morphology and lifestyle/location. It was thought that these three species were descended from a common ancestor of F. margarita (Sand Cat) around the same time, but with F. biete branching off first, F. lybica next, and F. sylvestris branching off the ancestor of F. lybica (though this was always a fairly contentious limb of the Felid family tree).
Due to genetics and further palentological studies, this has shifted a bit...and it is still contentious--and how its divied up depends on the source. Felis sylvestris is the name of the wildcat species, with the exception of F. bieti (though some scientists do put it there as F. sylvestris bieti). It has 5 subspecies (per the IUCN)--F. sylvestris sylvestris (European wildcat), F. sylvestris lybica (African wildcat), F. sylvestris cafra (S. African wildcat), F. sylvestris ornata (Asian wildcat), and F. sylvestris bieti (Chinese mountain cat (or desert cat)) (see pic). Some sources still use the old idea though.
to explain, Clade I represents F. s. sylvestris, Clade 2 is F. s. cafra, Clade 3 is F. s. ornata, Clade 4 is F. s. lybica, Clade 5 is F. s. bieti (or F. biete), and Clade 6 is F. margarita... The pie charts represent the type of mitochondrial DNA. The funky thing going on in GB is possibly due to hybridization of feral cats in the wildcat population.
*The F. sylvestris=Middle Eastern wildcat idea has largely gone away due to genetic studies
**wild cat=any of the 41 (give or take a few for scientific disagreement) non-domesticated species in the family Felidae vs wildcat=specific grouping of feli
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