Cats
Angel Diaz - 4
The History of Cats
The First Cats
One of the first cats was the Saber tooth tiger from 50 million years ago.They had very large canine teeth for killing animals like the Woolly mammoth.They had a small brain because of their teeth which took up most of the space in their head.They went extinct at the end of the ice age.
The First Domestic Cats
5,000 years ago the ancient Egyptians were the first people to domesticate cats.They realized that the cats were very helpful because they killed rats and mice feeding on stored grain.Eventually the cat became one of the most sacred animals in Egypt.When one of the sacred cats died in ancient Egypt its body was mummified.
The Three Groups of Cats
Small Cats
The first group of cats are the small cats,which include domestic cats,the black-footed cat,and the puma.All the small cats live on their own and hunt at night.The small cats are unable to roar like the large cats.The small cats can't roar because they have a different tongue which,allows them to purr.
Large Cats
The second group of cats are the large cats,which include the lion,the tiger,the jaguar,the leopard,and the snow leopard.The large cats need a lot of meat to survive.For that reason,they have always been fewer in number than the small cats,who don't need as much meat.The lion is the only cat who hunts in prides instead of hunting by themselves.All the other large cats hunt at night by themselves.
Lion
Lions are the only cats who hunt in prides.The lionesses are the main hunters in a pride.
Tiger
Tigers hunt by them selves.They also spend a lot of time near water to cool off.
Leopard
Leopards are very good at climbing trees.Also leopards are going extinct because of people destroying their habitat and killing them for their pelts.
The Running Cat
Finally the third group of cats are called the running cats.There is only one cat in this group which is the cheetah.The cheetah is not like all the other cats because its body is built for running instead of leaping like all the other cats.The cheetah does not have sheathes over their claws like the other cats.Also the cheetah is the only cat to be able to run at 60 mph, which makes it the fastest land mammal animal on the Earth.The other cats can only run up to 31 mph.