Co ± shka, or at home to ± ± shnyaya shka (Latin F ™ lis silv ™ stris c'tus  ) ЂЂЂ pet, one of the most popular  .

 

From the zoological point of view, the domestic cat ЂЂЂ mammal feline predator unit. Previously, domestic cat is often regarded as separate species. From the perspective of modern biological systematics domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) is a subspecies of forest cat (Felis silvestris  .

 

As a single hunter of rodents and other small animals, cat ЂЂЂ social animal  , Is used to communicate a wide range of sounds, as well as pheromones and body movements  .

 , Displays about 200 species, from the longhaired (Persian cat) to the deprived wool (Sphinx), recognized and registered by various feline organizations.

 

for 10 000 years old cat are valued by man, including the ability to hunt rodents and other pests home  .

 

In Russian the word means a cat or a representative of biological subspecies Felis silvestris catus in general, regardless of gender or the female of this subspecies. The male is called a cat and baby cat kitten ЂЂЂ (plural Kitty ± ma). The word cat in the Russian language is diminutivom from others-Russian. the word "kotka"  , Which in turn is derived from the noun "cat" and is akin to Lat. Cattus  (As in late Latin, from the V century, in contrast to the classical Latin felis) and family names in many languages ​​in Europe and the Middle East (gal cath, IRL. Catt  , It. Katze  , Eng. Cat  , Fr.

Chat  , App. Gato  , Ital. Gatta  , Prussia. catto  , Arm. kЂЂЂatЂЂЂu  , Noob. kadis). The original source is unknown, but assumed that, in many languages ​​the word has got out of Latin.

 

Some researchers suggest that based on the words of various Indo-European languages, denoting a cat, is the root of praindoevropeysky «* kat-», from whom came the words of Indo-European languages, meaning "kid" from which, later, there were the names of young animals in small Indo-European languages  . Other researchers consider this relationship a secondary convergence  .

 

onomatopoeic close Russian "meow" are the names of cats in ancient Egyptian (mj.w  ).

 . Johann Christian von Schreber in 1775 gave the name of wild cat Felis silvestris  .

 

Based on data from modern phylogenetics, the domestic cat is one of five  subspecies of wild cat Felis silvestris, and its correct scientific name of the international ЂЂЂ Felis silvestris catus  . The decision to consolidate the wild cat, the name of F. silvestris, a domesticated subspecies of its name ЂЂЂ F. silvestris catus ЂЂЂ was adopted in March 2003 by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature  And it was agreed that if in any classification of the domestic cat is described as a separate species, in this case, the name of the taxon should use a combination, as proposed by Linnaeus, F. catus.

 

in the literature, and other names used in an international scientific (Latin-) the name of the domestic cat: Felis catus domesticus, Felis silvestris domesticus, as well as proposed in 1777 by Johann Christian Polycarp Erkslebenom in "Principles of Natural Science," the name of Felis domesticus (originally ЂЂЂ Felis domestica, as Felis word in those days was considered feminine). All of these names are synonyms of the taxon, and therefore should not be used.

 ) Or simply the word 'cat'  .

 

According to genetic research, domestic cats are all on the maternal side there are a minimum of five representatives  ) That have different mitochondrial DNA haplotypes  . The separation of the subspecies Felis silvestris lybica occurred about 130,000 years ago. Steppe cat is still widespread throughout North Africa and in the vast area from the Mediterranean to China, where she lives in the bush in the desert Haloxylon, in the bushes near water bodies, in the foothills and mountains. Although the small wild cats of different subspecies can interbreed with each other and give the offspring, the results of genetic studies have shown that in the phylogeny of domestic cat other subspecies Felis silvestris, except steppe cat, did not participate  .

 

cat domestication happened about 9,500 years ago in the Middle East in the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of the ancient and evolved human civilization  . Domestication of cats began to transition people to a sedentary lifestyle, with the development of agriculture, when there were surpluses of food and there was a need to preserve and protect from rodents  .

 

The earliest archaeological evidence of domestication of cats was found in Cyprus, where archaeological excavations have been found co-disposal of human and cat, which dates back to 7500 BC. Oe.  . It was also found that the island of Cyprus was colonized by immigrants from areas of modern Anatolia (Turkey) and Syria  .

 

Previously, scientists believed that the first domesticated cats ancient Egyptians. However, the earliest evidence of domestication of cats by ancient Egyptians belonged to 2000ЂЂЂ1900 years before our era. And recently it was found that in Ancient Egypt domestic cat has got, as in Cyprus, from the Fertile Crescent  (Anatolia). Now the cat is one of the most popular pets  .

 

Despite the fact that cats were domesticated for a long time, most cats can survive in a location outside of human habitation, swelling the ranks of a second feral cats, as in life wandering cats usually quickly re-grow wild. Secondary feral cats often live a solitary and hunt alone, but sometimes form small colonies of several females with kittens.

 

Normal internal (rectal) temperature of an adult cat is 38ЂЂЂ39, 5 `C, kittens, it is somewhat higher. In hairless breeds internal body temperature is the same as all the cats  But due to lack of wool on the body of the cat skin temperature at the Sphynx Peterbald person or tactilely perceived as higher.

 

The pulse rate in adult cats varies depending on the physical and mental activity, ranging from 120 to 220 beats per minute. The respiratory rate is an average 20ЂЂЂ40 breaths per minute.

 

In cats, three groups of blood ЂЂЂ A, B and AB. Cats with blood group A may have antibodies to blood group B, and vice versa. Cats with blood type AB have no antibodies to any blood group A or to group B, so they can be the recipient of both groups of blood transfusion. Blood type AB is the rarest, it occurs in 1% of all domestic cats, and therefore remains poorly known, but scientists have been able to establish that the AB in its origin is not associated with blood groups A and B  .

 

The mechanism of fluid licking cat is that its language is pulled at a speed of 1 m / s, bends down and touches the surface of the liquid but, unlike dogs licking does not penetrate into it. Then rushes up the language and carries away the liquid column. Cat ingests fluid at a time when the vertical component of fluid velocity is slowed down by gravity and is equal to zero. At this point, the cat jaws are closed, and the liquid is swallowed. This process is repeated with the periodicity of 4 times per second  .

 

average body length of a cat without a tail of 60 cm, tail length 25ЂЂЂ35 see As a rule, females less than males, as in other mammals (the phenomenon of sexual dimorphism). The largest cat, according to the "Guinness Book of Records", reaches a length of 121.9 cm  .

 

Weight average healthy cat is 2.5 ЂЂЂ6, 5 kg, but there are larger specimens weighing up to 7ЂЂЂ9 kg. Cats breed Siberian cats and Maine Coon can reach a weight of 11.5 kg ЂЂЂ13  . Females can reach 20 kg weight and the heaviest cat weighed 21.3 kg  . Ordinary relatively large weight of the cat is a consequence of obesity.

 

Cat is a typical small predator with characteristics of anatomy. Cat skeleton is formed of about 240 bones and consists of two parts: the axial and peripheral. Axial section of the skeleton represented by the skull, spine and rib cage. Peripheral skeleton or skeletal limbs consists of two thoracic (front) and 2 pelvic (hind) limb  .

 

skull and vertebral column protects the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) damage. The spine is made up of cats 7 cervical, 13 thoracic, 7 lumbar vertebrae, three fused sacral and caudal vertebrae 20ЂЂЂ26. By the vertebrae are attached 13 pairs of ribs. The ribs along with the thoracic vertebrae and sternum form the thoracic cage. The first nine pairs of ribs are connected directly to the breast bone, the other four couples are free. The bones of the forelimbs are connected to the rib cage muscles and connective tissue.

 And about the same development of the facial and brain. Brain of cat skull consists of 11 bones, and the front of the 13  . Brain size of an average cat is 5 inches long and weighs 30 grams.

 , Including 12 incisors, 4 canines, 10 premolars and 4 molars. Cat's teeth are adapted for killing prey and tearing meat. Catching prey, the cat does bite her two long tusks, thrust them between two vertebrae of the victim, thereby cutting the victim's spinal cord, which leads to irreversible paralysis and death  . The dental formula is typical for cats felines  .

 

A distinctive feature of the structure of cat's eyes, typical of many mammals ЂЂЂ presence nictitating membrane (the so-called third eyelid), conjunctival folds ЂЂЂ fine, which extends from the inner corner of the eye and is protective. It cleans the surface of the cornea from the visible dust and wet it. The third eyelid can be seen when the cat sleeps with his eyes slightly opened, or feeling tired. If the third eyelid is seen constantly, including when the cat is awake, it is in most cases can be a symptom of the disease.

 

cat fur tends naelektrizovyvatsya of friction, so brushing and combing wool slightly moistened or brush. The accumulation of static electricity can always occur when finding a cat in too dry an atmosphere, in such cases, use humidifiers  .

 

According to many zoologists, among mammals, the senses are most developed in cats. Although they have developed a hearing is worse than, for example, in mice, an excellent (by human standards), sight, smell and hearing are combined with tactile and taste receptors do cats are very sensitive animals.

 

Among domestic animals the cat's biggest eyes relative to body size. Like most predators, cat's eyes are directed forward, and their visual fields overlap. So cats have stereoscopic vision, allowing to estimate the distance to the object of observation. About 60% of cats are capable of eye movements  (English)  Russian.  In which the visual axes converge and diverge.  Field of vision in cats is 200 `180` against the person. In the macula of the retina in cats is not the central fovea (fovea), but instead there is a disc  Where the cones. Rods in the retina of the eye 25 times more than the cones  That due to the fact that the cat is a nocturnal predator, so the ability to see in low light (for which it is responsible rods in the retina) is her priority.

 

Cats are able to distinguish colors, but compared to a person of color perception they have less contrast and less ЂЂЂ bright. In cats (and most other mammals except primates), there are two types of cones are sensitive to ЂЂЂ more longwave and shortwave light. "The long-wave" cones contain opsin cat, which has a maximum absorption at 553 nm  . It is believed that most mammals, there are no "green" cones (corresponding to the medium-wave cones of primates), so their color vision resembles that in humans at deuteranopia (a type of color blindness)  . It is noticed that the fixed and standing close objects cat treats worse than moving  . Cats have the ability to focus on objects in view 2ЂЂЂ3 times smaller than that of apes and humans.

 

Cats perfectly see in low light conditions. Behind the retina in the cat's eyes is a special layer ЂЂЂ tapetum, reflecting more light from an external source to the retina. Due to the tapetum and other mechanisms of sensitivity to cat's eyes 7 times higher than in humans, and cats can see well even in low light, but in bright light they see than a person. Because of the presence of tapetum cat's eyes when they light the dark green. The variation of the color of cat eye when flash photography is also due to the tapetum (see Fig.). Contrary to popular belief, cats are in absolute darkness can not see  .

 

To reduce the luminous flux on the retina in bright light, the pupil of a cat's eye can change the shape. And it is not round, like a man and a vertically oval until slit-like, because the iris is compressed using the muscle fibers unevenly same abilities have the eyes of the fox, belonging to the family canine. The iris is the diaphragm, regulating the amount of light penetrating inside the eye.

 

The organ of hearing the domestic cat is divided into three sections ЂЂЂ outer ear, middle ear and inner ear, where pulses are fed to the center of hearing in the brain.

 

Cats have directional hearing, ie, noises are sorted by destination. Cats can move the auricle in the direction of the sound source, and each auricle independently of each other, so the cat can watch simultaneously over the two sound sources. These movements operate more than a dozen muscles, allowing the pinna can rotate almost 180 `. If the cat has the ability of spatial hearing ЂЂЂ can recognize the power of sound, its removal and height, and on the basis of these data is to accurately assess the location of its source. Hearing cats are so well developed that they are able to navigate with my eyes closed in the space for the rustle and squeak and run past to catch mice, our ears are not able to so accurately position the location of the noise source.  

Cats can perceive ultrasonic signals. The range of audible sounds in the cat still poorly understood, according to some, it is between 45 Hz and 64 000 Hz  , According to other data up to 100 000 Hz  . The cat is not the body that produces the ultrasound, so cats do not use ultrasound for communicating, inaccessible to our perception, but they can hear ultrasound, as used during the hunt, as the ultrasonic communication in rodents is the interval 20ЂЂЂ-50 kHz, while Cats can hear ultrasounds to 65ЂЂЂ-70 kHz  . In the ear cats about 13 thousand perceiving cells, which is somewhat less than in humans, but the cat about 52 000 nerve transmission in the auditory nerve, whereas in humans they are much less ЂЂЂ 31 000  .

 

Tactile function in cats perform special haptic (tactile) hairs, located on two sides in four rows on the upper lip, above the eyes, chin ЂЂЂ the tuning ± ssy (colloquially ЂЂЂ mustache), and sensitive whiskers to tail, at inside and back of the limb (carpal hairs) on the paws, between toes, on tips of ears and the ears  . In no case can not remove the cat whiskers, as it is in fact will be deprived of his "system of orientation and navigation" in the space  . Empirically it was found that the weaker the vision in the cat, the longer and thicker than her whiskers, and cats who are born with impaired vision, vibrissae exceed 8 cm  . Whiskers also show the animal spirits: forward-whiskers often mean curiosity or suspicion, while at the aggression cat whiskers pressed the muzzle, although pacified, purring cat whiskers, too, pressed to her cheeks.

 

Skin touch the cat is strongly developed.

 

Cats have highly developed sense of smell, which is explained by the presence of these well-developed olfactory bulb  (English)  Russian.  and a large number of sensory cells olfactory epithelium nasal cavity. In cats, the surface of the olfactory epithelium is 5.8 smb, which is two times higher than in humans, and only 1.7 times less than the average dog  . Thanks to smell the cat about 14 times stronger than a human, which allows them to smell, about which people do not even know. The upper part of the oral cavity of cats is located vomeronasal organ, which makes them feel special at sniffing out smells fine. When the cat opens its mouth and pulls the lips, picking the skin on the head in a kind of grimace, showing the so-called. Flem reaction, there are also dogs, horses and other mammals  .

 

Cats are also very sensitive to the cat pheromone, such as formed by the degradation of amino acids synthesized cats felinina 3-mercapto-3-methylbutane-1-ol  That they use to communicate with each other, spraying urine and the labeling of its territory with secretions from scent glands.  . These glands are all carnivores, in particular, the skunks are used for self-defense.

 Intelligibility of this is due, above all, a good sense of smell and taste receptors developed on the tongue.      .  .  .        .  .    .            .            .  .            .  .  .      . The oldest was a stray cat, a 26-year-old Mark, was held in custody at the Charitable Union for the Protection of cats.

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