Comments on: Cat-Blogging from Deep Time http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/ A blog about life, past and future. Written by DISCOVER contributing editor and columnist Carl Zimmer. Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:00:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: SphericalTechnologies.com » Blog Archive » Crime-Fighting Kitties: Cat Hair Could Be the Next Forensic Tool | Discoblog http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-29881 SphericalTechnologies.com » Blog Archive » Crime-Fighting Kitties: Cat Hair Could Be the Next Forensic Tool | Discoblog Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:06:39 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-29881 [...] Related Content: DISCOVER: Ancient Egyptians Loved Their Dead Animals DISCOVER: Pox From Your Pets Discoblog: Is Pollution in China Causing Cats to Grow “Wings?” Discoblog: Oscar The Death Cat: I Haz Sniffed Many Deaths The Loom: Cat-Blogging from Deep Time [...] [...] Related Content: DISCOVER: Ancient Egyptians Loved Their Dead Animals DISCOVER: Pox From Your Pets Discoblog: Is Pollution in China Causing Cats to Grow “Wings?” Discoblog: Oscar The Death Cat: I Haz Sniffed Many Deaths The Loom: Cat-Blogging from Deep Time [...]

]]> By: Van Stoffer http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2058 Van Stoffer Wed, 08 Feb 2006 16:00:47 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2058 Thinking of cat evolution, I wondered why they all compulsively lick and wash themselves even at the risk of hairballs? The question then is what evolutionary advantage does this behavior confer? It seems most likely that it is to reduce oder to prey or predators. It is probably much easier for a clean cat to sneak up on a mouse than a smelly one! I have never read of an explanation for this behavior but would like to hear any alternative ideas. Thinking of cat evolution, I wondered why they all compulsively lick and wash themselves even at the risk of hairballs? The question then is what evolutionary advantage does this behavior confer? It seems most likely that it is to reduce oder to prey or predators. It is probably much easier for a clean cat to sneak up on a mouse than a smelly one! I have never read of an explanation for this behavior but would like to hear any alternative ideas.

]]> By: jessica http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2057 jessica Thu, 19 Jan 2006 23:25:14 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2057 cats are so cute cats are so cute

]]> By: Biopolitical http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2056 Biopolitical Sat, 07 Jan 2006 15:12:20 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2056 "Mammals with placentas (including cats, dogs, bears, bats, cows, primates, and rodents) underwent a massive evolutionary explosion, driven in large part by the extinction of big dinosaurs 65 million years ago." The story that the extinction of dinosaurs left an ecological void that was then filled by the radiation of mammals is, to the best of my (scant) knowledge, just that - a story. Clades come and go and we know very little about the causes. “Mammals with placentas (including cats, dogs, bears, bats, cows, primates, and rodents) underwent a massive evolutionary explosion, driven in large part by the extinction of big dinosaurs 65 million years ago.” The story that the extinction of dinosaurs left an ecological void that was then filled by the radiation of mammals is, to the best of my (scant) knowledge, just that – a story. Clades come and go and we know very little about the causes.

]]> By: Davvid B Benson http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2055 Davvid B Benson Fri, 06 Jan 2006 23:18:38 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2055 Re: #6 A quick check in wikipedia indicatess that all saber toothed and simitar toothed cats diverged early from all other cats. None of these, being extinct, appear in the 'live DNA' analysis. Re: #6

A quick check in wikipedia indicatess that all
saber toothed and simitar toothed cats diverged
early from all other cats. None of these, being
extinct, appear in the ‘live DNA’ analysis.

]]> By: dearkitty http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2054 dearkitty Fri, 06 Jan 2006 16:31:24 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2054 More on cat ancestry <a href="http://dearkitty.modblog.com/?show=blogview&blog_id=781996" rel="nofollow">here</a>. More on cat ancestry here.

]]> By: Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2053 Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. Fri, 06 Jan 2006 13:57:37 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2053 I have to agree with Carl on this one: the paper *DESPARATELY* needed the contribution of a paleontologist. Even leaving aside the issues of entirely extinct cat lineages (whose effect on the tree topology can only be guessed), there is the matter that present geographic ranges of the extant species are considerably different than their historic and prehistoric ranges. Take lions, for instance: today limited to Africa and a pocket in South Asia, but once broadly distributed in Europe, Africa, much of Asia, and North America (assuming <i>P. atrox</i> is indeed <i>P. leo atrox</i>). I'm not a fossil cat worker (my critters were much older...), so I don't know which region has the oldest specimens of <i>P. leo</i>. The authors might be overcounting or undercounting dispersal events. Paleo-cat fans should definitely check out A. Turner and M. Anton's <i>The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives</i> (Columbia Univ. Press, 1997). Excellent illustrations. I have to agree with Carl on this one: the paper *DESPARATELY* needed the contribution of a paleontologist. Even leaving aside the issues of entirely extinct cat lineages (whose effect on the tree topology can only be guessed), there is the matter that present geographic ranges of the extant species are considerably different than their historic and prehistoric ranges. Take lions, for instance: today limited to Africa and a pocket in South Asia, but once broadly distributed in Europe, Africa, much of Asia, and North America (assuming P. atrox is indeed P. leo atrox). I’m not a fossil cat worker (my critters were much older…), so I don’t know which region has the oldest specimens of P. leo. The authors might be overcounting or undercounting dispersal events.

Paleo-cat fans should definitely check out A. Turner and M. Anton’s The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives (Columbia Univ. Press, 1997). Excellent illustrations.

]]> By: Bob http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2052 Bob Fri, 06 Jan 2006 10:52:36 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2052 re : 2, Xerxes I found this link with cool pictures of big cat hybrids: <a href="http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/hybrids.html" rel="nofollow"><a href="http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/hybrids.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/hybrids.html</a></a> re : 2, Xerxes

I found this link with cool pictures of big cat hybrids:

http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/hybrids.html

]]> By: Bob http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2051 Bob Fri, 06 Jan 2006 07:39:05 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2051 Are the sabre tooths an earlier branch? Are the sabre tooths an earlier branch?

]]> By: Babbler http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2050 Babbler Thu, 05 Jan 2006 21:08:52 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2050 I was just wondering about domestic cat evolution. Interesting... I was just wondering about domestic cat evolution.

Interesting…

]]> By: Brent Michael Krupp http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2049 Brent Michael Krupp Thu, 05 Jan 2006 19:57:19 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2049 Oops, that anonymous was me. Didn't mean to do that. Not that anyone is likely to care, but direct scorn or criticism this way. Oops, that anonymous was me. Didn’t mean to do that. Not that anyone is likely to care, but direct scorn or criticism this way.

]]> By: Anonymous http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2048 Anonymous Thu, 05 Jan 2006 19:56:22 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2048 Some googling suggests that Savannahs are fertile so they manage one better than mules. Horses and donkeys aren't terribly similar and they don't even have the same number of chromosomes (that's why mules are usually, though not universally, sterile) but they manage it. I guess it's just a matter of the right little details not changing (some light googling suggests horses and donkeys diverged 2-4 million years ago, fwiw). Heck, I've seen speculation that human and chimpanzee could cross-fertilize but I guess some crazy Soviet scientist tried it in the 1920s and it didn't work, though he didn't have modern IVF methods available. I doubt anyone trying today would ever admit to it. Some googling suggests that Savannahs are fertile so they manage one better than mules. Horses and donkeys aren’t terribly similar and they don’t even have the same number of chromosomes (that’s why mules are usually, though not universally, sterile) but they manage it. I guess it’s just a matter of the right little details not changing (some light googling suggests horses and donkeys diverged 2-4 million years ago, fwiw).

Heck, I’ve seen speculation that human and chimpanzee could cross-fertilize but I guess some crazy Soviet scientist tried it in the 1920s and it didn’t work, though he didn’t have modern IVF methods available. I doubt anyone trying today would ever admit to it.

]]> By: Xerxes http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2047 Xerxes Thu, 05 Jan 2006 19:19:36 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2047 This is confusing to me. According to the diagram from this study, servals and domestic cats are pretty distantly related (8.5My). But according to Wikipedia (and a NYT article I recall), it's possible to interbreed servals with cats to get a hybrid called a "Savannah". How distantly related can two animals be if they are able to interbreed? This is confusing to me. According to the diagram from this study, servals and domestic cats are pretty distantly related (8.5My). But according to Wikipedia (and a NYT article I recall), it’s possible to interbreed servals with cats to get a hybrid called a “Savannah”. How distantly related can two animals be if they are able to interbreed?

]]> By: Tanya Perkins http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/comment-page-1/#comment-2046 Tanya Perkins Thu, 05 Jan 2006 19:19:22 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/01/05/cat-blogging-from-deep-time/#comment-2046 It's fascinating how geneticists are doing so much heavy lifting in terms of reconstructing evolutionary pathways, but Carl raises an intriguing question (and doesn't answer it, alas), that is, how does the fossil record dug up by all those persevering paleontologists compare? Does it tell the same story or at least a supporting story? And how can I find out? It’s fascinating how geneticists are doing so much heavy lifting in terms of reconstructing evolutionary pathways, but Carl raises an intriguing question (and doesn’t answer it, alas), that is, how does the fossil record dug up by all those persevering paleontologists compare? Does it tell the same story or at least a supporting story? And how can I find out?

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