All language subtitles for NOVA.S47E03.Cat.Tales.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP.2.0.H.264-GNOME_track3_[eng]

They're one of the world's
most popular furry pets.

Who's a good kitty?

Famously enigmatic
and totally unreadable.

We will often pretend

to know what they are thinking.

Are we right?

Maybe not.

Now biologists
and archaeologists

are unraveling
their secret histories.

Behavioral genes
have evolved a little bit

to make a domestic
cat more docile,

more friendly with humans.

Molecular genetics
is throwing new light

on the cat's journey from
wild animal to furry friend.

We can really drill
down and say definitively

where domestic cats come from.

Discoveries in neuroscience
are starting to explain

why we find cats so appealing.

It's clear that these
auditory sounds

are plugging straight
into our emotions.

Behavioral science
is giving us a hint

of what they think of us.

They are able to differentiate

between our
different expressions.

And why they aren't
always the ruthless predator

they sometimes pretend to be.

The cat likes to hide,
it likes to conceal itself.

It often likes to be up
high, where it feels safe.

What can science tell
us about their future?

Humans have hybridized
the domestic cat

with a completely
different species.

We're on the prowl
for "Cat Tales,"

right now, on "NOVA."

They are as enigmatic today

as when they first
came in from the wild.

Cats lead fantastic
double lives.

They disappear for hours,

and we don't know where they go.

So, yes, cats are mysterious...
they are the best secret agents.

So, where do these strange
house guests come from?

These were
slightly larger in size,

lived more in
trees, but otherwise,

they're going to have
very similar characteristics

that makes a cat a cat.

How did they end
up living with us?

People have been speculating
about it for hundreds of years.

And what about cat intelligence?

Cats are brilliant.

People really underestimate
the brilliance of a cat.

Do they even like us?

The right motivation for a
lot of cats is not to please us.

Or are they just
in it for the treats?

The great big motivator
is going to be food.

What is it about these
strange creatures

that makes them
irresistible to so many of us?

Welcome to Las Vegas
for the 40th TICA cat show,

one of the largest feline
shows in the U.S.A.

We have 447 cats.

And we have 247 exhibitors.

It is a testament to our
fascination with cats.

281 and 282...

Poppy is a Canadian sphinx.

They're a very sweet breed.

They call them Velcro kitties,

'cause they like to be
on your lap all the time.

This is a toyger...
I invented it.

He has a fantastic temperament.

Cats are popular

because they are
simply very charismatic,

they're independent, and
they're considered easy keepers.

It's nice being
able to come home,

relax, have your
cat come up to you,

meow, sit in your lap, and purr.

It just makes you feel
loved and welcome.

There are over 70
breeds recognized

by the International
Cat Association.

He's a white
Oriental short-hair,

which is a Siamese
in a designer coat.

Yeah, he's a sweet boy.

Then there are glamour cats,

like the Persian, with
its thick, luxurious coat;

the Maine coon, large,
smart, and a deadly hunter;

and the exotic, one of the
most popular breeds in the U.S.

And that's just a start.

You can get small cats,
you can get large cats,

you can get cats
with shortened legs,

you can get cats
with folded ears.

We estimate

about one out of five
households in the U.S. owns a cat.

One thing is clear:

owners really love their cats.

Cats are perfect for me, because
I just love their companionship.

They jump up on your
lap, and that's all I need...

just a little cup
of tea and a cat.

Who's a good kitty?

Why are so many people

obsessed with cats?

The latest scientific research

suggests owners literally
can't help themselves.

Professor Morten Kringelbach

works at the
University of Oxford.

He studies hedonia... pleasure.

Pleasure is probably one
of the most interesting tricks

that evolution
ever played on us.

It's basically making us do

what it is that we
need to do to survive.

To understand how
humans experience pleasure,

Kringelbach uses a
magnetoencephalograph,

or M.E.G.,

to map and measure

electrical activity in
our brains in real time.

What is really exciting
about this technique

is that it allows
us to basically look

at how the brain is thinking,

how the brain is
having emotions.

You can measure
over milliseconds

the way that the electromagnetic
signals in your brain changes.

And we can start to see

how the brain is
unfolding in real time.

The brain fires electrical
signals between neurons.

Each tiny electric current

produces a minute
magnetic field.

But these magnetic
fields are so small,

they can be swamped

by interference from
electronic equipment...

even from the magnetic
field of the Earth.

For the M.E.G. to
measure brain activity,

test subjects must
be locked away

in a heavily shielded room.

Okay, we're just
about ready to start.

Just sit nice and still and
just listen to the sounds.

In previous trials,

Kringelbach's team
tracked the brain's responses

to the sound of a newborn baby.

So, what we're seeing here is

how the signal gets
into the auditory cortex,

this bit here and here.

It's basically just
near to your ears.

And you can see that
after about 130 milliseconds,

you get the maximal response.

Now, when you're
listening to an infant crying,

you also get activity in
the orbito-frontal cortex,

and it's happening at
exactly the same time

as when you are actually
trying to make sense

of what it is that
you're hearing.

The orbito-frontal
cortex is central

to processing emotions,

and the experiments suggested
that the sound of a baby crying

triggered a response there,

before the subjects

had consciously
identified the sound.

It seems to be an
instinctive emotional reaction

that may not even
require rational thought.

This may be because
the need to care for infants

is an essential
species-survival skill.

It's clear that these
auditory sounds

are plugging straight
into our emotions.

In tests where subjects listened
to the sound of an adult crying,

a much weaker response
arose in the orbito-frontal cortex,

suggesting only certain sounds

trigger a strong
emotional response.

But there was another sound
that produced the same reaction

as a baby's cry.

A cat's meow.

There seems to be
striking similarities

between the way that
we process a cat meowing

and that of baby crying.

We get activity in
the auditory cortices,

just like we do
with anything else.

But before we
become conscious of it,

we get activity in the
orbito-frontal cortex,

suggesting that
this is something

that we need to take care of.

The fact that a newborn's
cry and a cat's meow

initiated the same
emotional response

could have been a
coincidence... except for one thing.

Meowing in adult cats
is really interesting,

because it turns out
that they only really do it

to humans.

When cats meow to us,

it's as if they are hijacking
our emotional responses

to make us love
and care for them.

But are they doing
it on purpose?

It's not necessarily
something that is conscious.

It's just that they
know that this works,

just like we know that
smiling at our parents worked

when we were kids.

Here, come here, you monster.

They probably don't mean
to manipulate us, but they do.

So, we have some idea

of what's going on in
our heads about cats.

But will we ever know
what's going on in their heads?

I definitely think cats
are more aloof than dogs.

I do think they can be
very emotionally distant.

We will often pretend to
know what they are thinking.

Are we right?

Maybe not, but
it's fun to imagine.

Cats are famously enigmatic.

So it's tough to figure
out what they're feeling

by looking at their faces.

Happy cat.

Angry cat.

Sad cat.

Or is that the sad cat?

We may not be able to figure
out what our cats are feeling,

but can science
shed any light on it?

Historically, cats aren't seen

as very expressive.

So there is that idea that
they are particularly cold

when it comes to
interacting with us.

Compare that to a dog,

whose face seems
full of expression...

empathy,

happiness,

sadness,

guilt.

Why aren't cats
as communicative?

They're not really able to frown

or have that sad, sort of
puppy-dog-eye expression.

They don't seem to have
the right musculature for that.

Both dogs and
humans have a muscle

that is responsible for
raising the inner eyebrow,

which we use for showing
things like sadness and concern.

Cats don't have this muscle.

So cats are physically incapable

of having faces as
expressive as dogs.

However, Finka's
research suggests

that cats can communicate
some emotion on their faces.

It's just we don't
speak their language.

So, we know that the
muscles of the cat's face

are quite different
from other species,

and certainly from humans.

They use the muscles
in different ways,

and they also have
different types of muscles,

and different
collections of muscles

will do different things.

Finka studies how
cats' faces change

when illness or
injury produces pain.

This is the only feeling she
can currently say with confidence

that a cat is experiencing.

We are looking at cats
when they come into the vet's

with a painful condition,

and we do know

that they're actually
changing their expressions

in relation to how they're
feeling and if they're in pain.

She has identified a set
of incredibly subtle markers

to help track their feelings.

We have a series of
48 facial coordinates.

And we can actually look to see

how these
coordinates are altering

based on what the
cat's experiencing.

So, whether they're
in pain or not in pain,

or whether they're
relaxed and comfortable

or perhaps fearful
or frustrated.

Finka has identified
some telltale signs,

such as a cat's ears turning
very slightly outwards and down;

or a tiny reduction
in the distance

between the cheeks,
mouth, and nose region.

These are all signs

that the cat is not
happy and in pain.

But if you think this
is going to usher in

a new age of cat-human
communication,

think again.

It's very, very subtle.

So, statistically,
it's significant,

but in terms of the
average cat owner

trying to look at
their cat's face,

it might be a little
bit more problematic.

Our struggle to
read cats' feelings

isn't going to get much
easier anytime soon.

But can cats read our
emotions any better?

To find out,

researchers conducted a
series of behavioral tests.

Because it's quite
difficult to test cats,

we know a lot less about
their cognitive abilities

compared to dogs.

Doesn't mean

that they don't necessarily
have the same level

of skills and abilities.

It just means that
it's much harder for us

to find the right
context to test them in

and get them to play ball in
the way that we need them to.

Pepper the cat has been
placed in a room with her handler,

who makes various faces at her.

First up, scowling.

Can Pepper detect this
is a negative emotion?

It appears cats are less likely

to react positively to
someone they know

if they have an
angry expression.

Next, a positive, smiling face.

By running the
test multiple times,

scientists gathered results

suggesting that a
cat may be more likely

to approach someone
they recognize

if they are smiling at it.

What the research
suggests is that they are able

to differentiate between
our different expressions,

and they're using
this information

to change the way that
they are responding.

The limited study also suggested
that cats react more strongly

to both the positive
and negative emotions

of their owners

than to those of strangers.

The behavior of owners is
much more important to the cats,

because we're the
ones that feed the cats,

and we look after them.

So maybe they're more
interested in paying attention to us

for that reason.

We may struggle
to read cat faces,

but we're probably
less inscrutable to them.

So, what led to this
unlikely partnership

between human and cat?

To answer that, it helps
to understand their origins.

Domestic cats are part of a
much larger and wilder family,

a family with some
very big footprints to fill:

the lion, the
tiger, the leopard...

predators at the top
of their food chains.

But whatever the
apparent similarity,

these are not our
cats' direct ancestors.

All felines, or felids,
evolved from the Proailurus,

an animal living in Eurasia
roughly 25 million years ago.

These felids were probably
slightly larger in size,

lived more in trees than
our domestic cats do.

But otherwise, it's going to
have the same teeth and claws,

just like a domestic cat does.

So, all cats, whether
you're a lion, a tiger,

or a little domestic
cat sitting on your lap,

they're going to have
very similar characteristics

that makes a cat a cat.

DNA and fossil evidence
tells us that big cats...

the lion, the
tiger, the jaguar...

separated from the
common ancestor

around 10.8 million years ago.

Large American cats,
like the lynx and bobcat,

separated 7.2 million years ago.

The domestic cat's ancestor,

the most recent
branch of the felid tree,

established itself 3.4
million years ago...

Felis silvestris, the wildcat.

It's a much smaller
subspecies of feline

that relies more on surprise
and stealth than brute force.

This explains the origins

of some of the strange
behaviors owners see in their pets.

There are several
clues in cats' behavior

that they're perhaps
not the apex predators,

and, in fact, are prey,
as well as predators.

For example, the
cat likes to hide,

it likes to conceal itself.

It often likes to be up
high, where it feels safe

and where it can
be very vigilant.

According to genetic research,

Felis silvestris split into
five distinct subspecies:

the European wildcat,
the Chinese mountain cat,

the Southern and
North African wildcats,

and the Central Asian wildcat.

But which one is the actual
ancestor of our domestic cat?

People have been speculating
about it for hundreds of years...

about where they came from,

whether or not they came
from many different species

or many different
subspecies of one species.

In 2007, geneticist
Carlos Driscoll

started a groundbreaking study,

collecting DNA
samples from wildcats

and comparing their
DNA to domestic cats.

With the advent of
molecular genetic techniques,

we can really drill
down and say definitively

where domestic cats come from.

Each subset of Felis silvestris

has a distinct DNA signature

made up by
different combinations

of the four chemical
bases, A, T, C, and G.

By comparing these
to the domestic cat,

Driscoll was able to pinpoint

which subspecies
was its ancestor.

Domestic cats are derived
from one single group

of Felis silvestris in the wild,

Felis silvestris lybica.

Felis silvestris lybica,

the North African wildcat...

a solitary animal found
throughout Northern Africa

and the Middle East,

longer-legged than
our domestic cats,

with a coat that ranges
from reddish to gray,

to camouflage in
different habitats.

But when did this wildcat
become our domestic companion?

In 2004,

on the small Mediterranean
island of Cyprus,

archaeologists found evidence
of the earliest known encounter

between cat and human.

A team lead by Jean-Denis Vigne

was excavating a
9,500-year-old human settlement.

During the excavation,
they discovered a grave...

a grave that had two occupants:

the skeletal remains
of a man and a cat,

a Felis silvestris lybica.

It was amazing to
find a complete animal,

and especially a cat,

beside a human.

And it was so early that
it was really surprising

to have such an
evidence of connection

between one cat and one human.

The way the bones were laid out

suggested that the cat had
been intentionally placed

next to the man.

They were facing each
other in death, in the afterlife.

And this is a, a scene which
has been arranged by people.

But what really caught
scientists' interest

was the fact that
Cyprus is an island,

and no trace has ever
been found of native wildcats.

So, how did this cat get here?

The fact that this burial
was found on Cyprus

means that somebody
brought these cats to the island,

by boat.

The Cyprus settlement

closely matches
sites found in Turkey,

so archaeologists believe that's
where the settlers originated,

and where we know that Felis
silvestris lybica was common.

It suggests these
people or their ancestors

must have brought
a cat with them.

But the Cyprus cat was
different from mainland wildcats

in one very significant respect.

This cat was very big.

This meant that,
probably, it has been fed.

So maybe it was
more or less a pet.

A larger skeleton indicates

that the cat is domesticated,

because he's getting
enough nutrition

that he can devote

all that energy
obtained from food

into growth.

Cats in the wild are less able

to spare the energy to grow big.

There's a time cost to hunting.

So, you would
have energy diverted

into fueling your hunts,

then therefore,
you'll be smaller.

On its own,

the evidence of the Cyprus
cat is not enough to confirm

that this nine-and-a-half-
thousand-year-old cat

was domesticated.

But there's now evidence
from genetic research

that supports this theory.

To date the split between
wildcats and domestic cats,

scientists use
mitochondrial DNA.

Unlike other DNA,

mitochondrial material
comes almost exclusively

from the mother,

so it's passed down the
generations unaltered,

except for random mutations
that happen at a known rate.

By calculating that
rate of mutation,

we can actually
calculate the age

of a specimen
that we're studying.

So, we use the
mitochondrial clock a lot

with different organisms

to try to figure out their
age in evolutionary time.

And it shows that our
domestic cats split from wildcats

approximately
10,000 years ago...

very close to the
time of the Cyprus cat.

Why did it happen then?

Well, at that moment in history,

humans societies were also
going through a big transformation...

becoming farmers.

This started in an
area of the Near East

archaeologists call
the Fertile Crescent.

And Turkey, where the
Cyprus cat originated,

was part of it.

The Fertile Crescent
was so rich an area

for hunting and gathering

that people could
have little encampments

that eventually grew into towns.

So throughout all seasons,
they could be in one spot.

This new way of
life relied not only

on the ability to grow
food, but also to store it.

What's the dawn of civilization

got to do with cat
domestication?

Humans by this point
were harvesting grains

and caching them,

putting big stores
of grains in baskets

in holes in the
floors of their houses.

But the grain stores
were an easy target

for hungry wild rodents.

They had the potential to
devour these new food stores.

Luckily for our ancestors,

this new concentration
of rodents

attracted something
else... something wild.

Cats were likely drawn into
these new human settlements

because they could hear
something we couldn't.

Cat hearing is really
just truly amazing.

So, they can actually
hear very low frequencies

and very high frequencies.

And of course,
much of their prey

is squeaking at
high frequencies.

Humans can't hear some
rodent squeaks at all,

as they vocalize at a frequency
beyond our hearing range.

But cats have
ultrasonic hearing.

When we hear
nothing, they hear this.

The pitch of these squeaks
must be lowered by 90%

to make them audible to humans.

Cats also have
unique anatomical gifts

that help them zero
in on their next meal.

The outside of their ear has an
amazing amount of muscles in it,

so they can turn their
ear all the way around.

That allows the
cat to really hone in

on where the mice are, rats
are, where they're communicating,

and hence, they're going to
capture them for their meals.

This makes cats
rodent terminators...

unstoppable killers.

The allure of easy pickings in
the first human settlements...

namely, rodents...

would have been irresistible.

And you'd be forgiven

for thinking that cats still
like to show off this prowess

10,000 years later.

She brings us gifts.

Maybe once a month, we have
a mouse appear in the house.

It is a bit disgusting.

We get leaves, leaves. Oh,
yeah, they brought a leaf in,

and Rita brought a
piece of stale toast in once

from the back garden.

So, lots of people think

that their pet cats
bring them gifts

in the form of small
rodents or birds,

but actual fact, the cat
doesn't believe it is a gift.

The cat will often bring home
the prey that it has caught

because the home represents
the core territory to the cat,

the place that it feels safe.

But 10,000 years ago,

this would have been
very effective PR,

proving to our ancestors

that cats protected
valuable food resources.

This was a creature you'd
want to have hanging around.

Maybe you set out
some food for a cat

to keep it around your house.

You might have done that because
you thought it was eating mice

and keeping your
grain stores clean.

So, the domestic cat split
around 10,000 years ago

in the Near East.

But how much have they
changed from their wild ancestors?

The wildcat in the wild

feeds only on meat.

They're obligate carnivores,
or hyper-carnivores.

So they can only
process proteins.

They're metabolically incapable
of digesting carbohydrates.

House cats are different.

While wildcats only eat meat,

their domestic cousins
have evolved the ability

to digest some plant matter.

The domestic cat, for
thousands of years now,

has been living off of scraps...

not just scraps of meat,

but also scraps of
grains and vegetables.

And the result of that
is that domestic cats

have a slightly
longer intestinal length

than their wild ancestor.

And Darwin hypothesized

that this is because the
cats are trying to squeeze

as much nutrients out of
this poor food as they can.

This irresistible combination of
rodents and edible human refuse

could explain why the wildcat
decided to come in from the wild

and live alongside humans.

Wildcats genetically predisposed
to find humans less scary

would have hung
around the settlements.

Anything that has to do
with aggression or boldness

are probably genes
that are involved

with the actual
domestication process,

because those had to change

between the wild progenitor
and the domestic cat

in order for the cat to
cohabitate with humans.

Breeding between these animals

would have positively
selected genes

that allowed them to live
more closely with humans.

Certainly, there have been
some genes that have changed

between an African wildcat
and the domestic cat itself,

because we know the
behaviors are different.

Behavioral genes,
which are genes

that are involved with our
brain and our neurology,

those are genes that
have evolved a little bit

to make a domestic
cat more docile,

more friendly with humans.

Geneticists have found
13 genes that have changed

in the domestic cat,
compared to its wild ancestor:

genes like DCC and G.R.I.A.1,

which are associated
with making cats friendlier

and less afraid of people.

We may never know
who initiated first contact,

but it's safe to assume

that cats determined the
terms of the relationship.

So, it's not a stretch to say

that we didn't
domesticate the cat,

the cat domesticated itself.

Genetics has confirmed
that domestic cats originated

in the Fertile Crescent,

but it's also revealed
something genuinely surprising...

one country had more influence
on the genes of modern cats

than any other.

And it was a long
way from Turkey.

Egypt.

Professor Salima Ikram is
an expert in all things Egyptian,

including their
obsession with cats.

The ancient Egyptians
really loved animals,

but they also revered them.

Cats were perhaps
the most popular

and the most highly venerated,

because of their utilitarian as
well as metaphysical values.

In Egypt 4,000 years ago,

the first images of
cats start appearing...

wall carvings and paintings
of cats living with humans.

Egyptians especially
valued the cat's killer instincts.

Ancient texts tell us that
not only do cats kill rodents,

but they also kill snakes.

So, of course, the
Egyptians love this,

because they were
much safer as a result.

Imagine if you're a mother,

and your child is
crawling around,

and then a snake approaches,
and your pet cat kills it.

Also, for them, the idea
that a cat was killing a snake

meant that the sun god Ra
was killing the evil snake Apophis.

So, it was sort of
doing double duty.

This mystic battle playing
out in homes across Egypt

would have done
wonders for the cat's PR.

The cat became so
important to Egyptians

that they turned
it into a goddess.

The cult of Bastet,
the cat goddess,

had always been
popular in Egypt,

but it really came to
prominence 3,000 years ago,

about 500, 600 B.C.

Bastet, the daughter of Ra,

would often take
the form of a cat.

Bastet was very much about
self-indulgence and beauty

and love and fertility,
which was very important.

Unfortunately for cats,

being worshipped as a goddess
had a very unfortunate downside.

We're about to go
into the tomb of Raia,

who was a New Kingdom official.

It's a really ancient tomb,

and it's not been open
to the public for ages.

Wow.

Nice.

They lived

about three-and-a-half
thousand years ago,

just at the beginning of
the time of Tutankhamen.

But that's not the most
interesting thing for me

about this tomb.

For me, the most
exciting thing is actually

that it was reused
to bury cats in.

This tomb is packed
with cat mummies.

The downside of being
worshipped as a goddess

was that it led to cat
sacrifice on a huge scale.

Pilgrims would buy these
cats to give a blood sacrifice.

And so for the cat
goddess Bastet,

you would offer up a cat,
which would then be killed.

And because it was
her titulary animal,

it would attract her
attention in the afterlife.

The demand for sacrificial
cats became so great,

Egyptians were breeding
hundreds of thousands of them.

People were
breeding these animals

specifically for sacrifice.

So, we think

that there might
have been catteries

scattered all over the country,

where purpose-bred cats
were being given to the temples

for the priests to sacrifice.

This breeding program
was so intensive,

it may have changed the
physical appearance of some cats.

Here, this really
sweet little paw,

is part of the
foreleg of the cat.

But what's extraordinary is

that you can still see
some of the fur here,

and it's a ginger kitty.

And a lot of the cats in
paintings are ginger cats.

They were favored,

because they brought out
the idea of the sun god Ra,

and you can see this color here.

Seeing a ginger or orange
cat today isn't unusual.

But 4,000 years ago, before
the Egyptian breeding program,

nearly every cat in the
world looked like this tabby.

The striped pattern,
which is the mackerel tabby,

was the original "wild-type"
version of a cat's coat.

The mackerel pattern helps
it to have better camouflage

in the environment
that it has evolved in.

Orange coloring isn't
good for camouflage.

These cats would have been
less well adapted to the wild,

but in the catteries of Egypt,

there was no need
for camouflage.

In the wild,

these new coat color
patterns wouldn't be tolerated.

They don't provide
any advantage.

But when you're around humans,

they become selected by humans,

because they're
odd and different.

It's called novelty selection.

So, when we see
these odd coloration's

showing up in a species,

that is a clear sign
of domestication.

The orange mutation may
not have occurred first in Egypt,

but it was certainly
established and protected here.

So, if it wasn't
for the Egyptians,

we may not have
orange cats at all.

The intensive Egyptian
breeding program

didn't just change
the way cats looked.

It changed their
behavior, as well.

It's absolutely changing
the cat's personality,

making it more domesticated

by putting these
cats into large groups.

After generations
of selecting for cats

that go from a solitary animal

to being a group species now,

you're probably changing
the cat's behavior

to be a less stressed animal,

a more bold and loving
animal with humans.

So, Egyptians produced cats that
were more attractive to humans.

This could explain why
the DNA of Egyptian cats

makes up so much
of a modern cat's DNA,

compared with
cats from elsewhere.

For any given species,

not all lineages
are going to survive.

So for the domestic cat,
the Egyptian lineage of cats

really dominated
and was more popular,

and so probably out-competed
the other different lineages

that were from different
places of the world.

But how did cats bred in
Egypt spread across the world?

The same way many
invading forces did at the time...

by boat.

Egypt was a major trading
hub in the ancient world.

Precious metals, gems,
and timber came in.

Grain from the
fertile Nile went out.

And much of that
trade went by sea.

Because the trade ships
were filled with grain, primarily,

there were so many rats about,

that, of course, cats
were really welcome,

because they not only
protected the grain,

but they also protected
the sailors from being bitten

and also their own food.

So, cats were really
stars on these boats.

Cats began traveling
the known world on ships.

For thousands of years,
Egyptian, then Roman,

then Viking ships transported
cats across the world.

Vikings, in particular,

seemed to have favored
the unusual color mutation

that had originated in Egypt.

You can almost map
where Vikings were

by looking at the gene
frequency of orange in Europe.

Vikings clearly
couldn't get enough

of their orange Egyptian cats.

It was probably true

in Viking society,

as it is true in most other
early seafaring societies,

that having a cat on
board a ship was good luck.

And it could be that the
Vikings selected orange cats

to bring on their boats

for some reason
that we don't know.

Egyptian cat genes
conquered the known world.

But it seems not everyone
was happy about that.

Because by the
Middle Ages, in Europe,

cats weren't being worshipped...

they were being persecuted,
mainly thanks to this man,

Pope Gregory IX.

This 13th-century pope
produced a papal anti-cat edict.

It accused cats of being
in league with Satan.

And because what the pope
said was the word of God,

God hated cats.

The solution to the
satanic cat menace

was simple and
straightforward...

kill them all.

In late medieval Europe,

there were festivals formed

around the torturing
and killing of cats.

And of course, when tortured,

they made, to sadists, a very
satisfying amount of racket.

So, what was it

about these relatively
harmless furry creatures

that was so alarming
to medieval society?

Cats are creepy creatures
to a lot of human beings.

So, there's always this tension

between an animal that
actually shouldn't be in your home

and is a predator
and quite menacing,

and yet is
affectionate and cuddly

and purry and furry and warm.

Another reason medieval people
could have found cats disturbing

was because of their
serpent-like eyes.

Cats have unique
adaptations in their eyes

that allow them to be
superb hunters at night.

One of these adaptations is

the reflective layer in the back
of the eye called the tapetum.

Light entering the eye

is picked up by the
photoreceptors in the retina.

It hits the tapetum
lucidum, reflects back,

and gets picked up by
the photoreceptors again.

This adaptation helps give a cat

six times greater night-vision
acuity than a human.

However, this membrane
makes the cat's eyes

appear to glow in the dark...

not ideal in the age of
witchcraft and superstition.

We are a diurnal species.

We're suited to daylight,
we can't see in the dark.

The night for us is
disempowering, scary,

and positively dangerous,

whereas to a cat, it is
simply a natural environment.

Isn't it, Moses?

Isn't it, Moses?

By the end of the Middle Ages,

cats had colonized almost
every continent on the planet.

And they had started to diverge

further and further from
their Near East origins.

One of the more famous
and striking of these new cats

was the Siamese.

Siamese cats are
very interesting,

because they're
sort of a natural breed

that occurred in Thailand.

The Siamese evolved
in a different direction

from its Egyptian ancestors,

losing the tabby
coloration completely,

opting for something
totally unique.

So, this beautiful girl has got
a classic Siamese coat color

with the, the browner ears
and nose and tail and feet,

and that's the result of a
thermosensitive mutation

in a tyrosine gene

that inhibits the production
of melanin on these cats.

And so, the warm parts
of her body lose the color,

and the cooler parts keep it.

The DNA of the Siamese

show they separated from
the Mediterranean breeds

centuries ago

and evolved independently
on the other side of the world.

It's not believed that anybody
set out to breed these cats.

What happened is, is, a
mutation occurred, and it stayed

in this very small
isolated population

in Thailand.

And from there, it
drifted into fixation

in a certain number of cats.

This process is
called genetic drift.

It occurs when a
particular mutation

becomes accidentally
dominant in an isolated population

that doesn't mix much
with the rest of the world.

If a mutation occurs
in a small population,

it's got a very good
chance of drifting to fixation,

which means that 100%
of the cats in that population

will then have that mutation.

The Siamese is an
extremely unusual breed,

because its looks result
from a natural genetic process.

Most cats in the world arose
by more artificial means...

a sudden and huge
expansion of cat breeding.

During the late 1800s
and into the 1900s and on,

cats have become
a status symbol.

Europeans realized that there
were different variety of cats

from all around the world.

They then incorporated that
into their breeding programs.

People started selecting cats

because they had
unique varieties.

The Angora cat came
from the Near East;

the Abyssinian
came from Ethiopia;

the Manx cat, which had no
tail, came from the Isle of Man.

And this new trend
of cat breeding

was enthusiastically taken
up in the U.S. in short order.

One of the first
is the Maine coon,

the natural long-hair cat

that really actually came
over with the Pilgrims,

but now was indigenous
to the United States.

Another very
interesting cat breed

that developed in
the United States

is the ragdoll.

This cat developed from
cats that were in California.

Breeding, both natural
and human-assisted,

has given cat owners an
astonishing level of choice.

So, you might think,

that after 10,000
years and all this effort,

we've bred out their wild side.

Apparently not.

These are feral cats.

They are not wild animals,
despite how it may look.

These cats, or
their close relatives,

were once normal house pets.

Take a domestic
cat out of the home,

and they can turn
a lot less loving.

Feral cats typically will
start up with fight-or-flight

when people come into play.

This suggests all domestic cat
shave this wildness within them.

So why don't
they all turn feral?

The socialization window
for cats is very important.

If you want a friendly cat,

a cat that is accepting of
people and new experiences,

this is usually between two
to seven or eight weeks of age.

If they miss that window,

it's more likely to have
a cat that's more fearful

and more what we consider feral.

U.S. cities like Atlanta have a
serious problem with feral cats.

We don't want to
euthanize a cat,

because you know what happens

when you remove cats from
the outdoor environment?

Is that new cats come in.

So, we actually maintain
a stable population

so we don't add more
cats into that area.

So, veterinarians
like Dr. Ashley Randall

work on programs to try
and control the situation.

Neutering and spaying
is really, really important

when it comes to
feral populations,

especially if we're trying
to control the numbers.

Any time a population
gets really, really high,

you run the risk for disease,

and that's for
people and for pets.

Helping Dr. Randall with
Atlanta's feral-cat problem

are Lizzy and Kasia from
the Pets for Life Program.

We are out today
doing some cat-trapping

for what's called TNR...
trap, neuter, release.

A female cat

will have kittens
every two months,

and she will be impregnable
right after she delivers.

So, pretty much, you can
assume that every female cat

in the wild out here

is pregnant at all times.

Lizzy and Kasia are tracking
a feral cat active in the area.

So they've left a series
of traps filled with food.

Well, it looks like
somebody's in there.

Yeah.

Hi, there.

Let's see what we've got.

Hi.

Looks like the right one.

We're going to
take you to the vet.

Let's get him in the van.

Okay.

On average, they
catch 15 cats a week.

It's okay, buddy.

Each receives a welcome
health check, vaccinations,

and neutering or spaying.

Okay, so, his heart sounds good.

And his gums are nice and pink.

Very good, big guy.

All right, so we are going
to put him on his side,

and then we are going
to give him his sedative.

All right.

All we're doing is

taking away the
reproductive organs,

so we're taking away organs
that they can live without

very easily.

For males, they're up

within about 20 minutes
of that procedure.

So he is going to go back
outside and live out his life.

All eighty, big boy.

The whole procedure
takes less than ten minutes.

And a few hours later,

the cat is released
back onto the streets.

It's okay, buddy, we're home.

The reason that we trap,
neuter, and return feral cats...

versus keeping them
and adopting them out...

is, they're truly not happy
to live inside with people.

This way.

The vet said

he was pretty healthy,
surgery went well.

So he might be a little
drowsy this evening,

and then he'll be back
to full energy tomorrow,

ready to take on the world.

There you go.

So, domestication
may only be skin-deep,

and cats are essentially
still wild animals...

wild animals that
now live with us.

This essential wildness
may explain in part

why cats are not trainable
in the way dogs are.

Dogs want to
please their owners;

they are what is
known as hyper-social.

Cats don't really care
what their owners want.

It's a lot more difficult to
train a cat compared to a dog

because dogs were specifically
selected for their train-ability,

whereas cats have
shorter attention spans,

and people also
really don't spend

a lot of time training cats.

But just because they
aren't as cooperative as dogs

doesn't mean they aren't
as smart or trainable.

You just have to make
it worth their while.

Meet Samantha Martin.

This is Meowy Manor.

Samantha is the manager
of a traveling troupe...

or, more accurately, pride...

of performing cats.

Most of the training
happens in here.

Cats are brilliant.

People really underestimate
the brilliance of a cat.

By training them, they
get to use their brain.

They have to figure out
what it is that I want from them.

To train her cats,

Samantha uses a method
called operant conditioning,

also known as clicker training.

This is the target stick,

so he was trained to jump up

to wherever I pointed
the target stick.

And once he had all
four paws up on the barrel,

I'd just click and treat.

The clicker acts as
a bridge or a marker

to let the cat know that
they'd just done a behavior

that's going to
give them a reward.

Got it, you got it.

Once the behavior's learned,

I no longer need the
target stick or the clicker,

just the prop itself.

And they know what
to do with the prop.

So, that's the finished trick.

The question is,

are the cats training
to please their owner,

or are they just
there for the food?

If you want to train a
cat, the great big motivator

is going to be food.

Food is a primary reinforcer.

It's something that
they can't live without.

So, most cats can be
trained to work for that food.

Compared to dogs, there
hasn't been much research

into cat cognition
and intelligence.

But cats are clearly clever...
when they choose to be.

The Acro-Cats play to
full-houses as they tour the U.S.A...

audiences crammed
with envious cat owners

wondering why
their pet won't do this.

Experience and hard work says,

"Reward with food, and you
might have a little more luck."

So, where next for
our wild feline friends?

Well, some people have plans
to completely reinvent the cat.

All domestic cats up
until the last 20 years

have been purely
Felis silvestris.

Humans have, very interestingly,

now hybridized the domestic cat

with a completely
different species.

Anthony Hutcherson
has been breeding

one such hybrid...
Come on, buddy.

The Bengal cat.

Bengals come from a cross

between domestic cats
and a wildcat species

called the Asian leopard cat.

Personality-wise,

they are a little
different from other cats,

and they're pretty active
and interested and intelligent.

So, if you just want a
cat to sit on your lap,

this is not the cat for you.

The difference

between a domestic cat
and an Asian leopard cat

is about six million
years of evolutionary time.

That's on the same
range as the difference

between a human
and a chimpanzee.

Bengal adults, 207 through 216.

With such a huge
evolutionary difference,

can these new hybrid
cats still share our homes?

Come on, buddy.

The challenge lies

in getting those physical
traits that attract your eye

and have excited humanity
since the beginning of time

without those traits you
don't want on the inside:

getting scared easily,
peeing in the corners,

you know, needing to eat
a lot of raw, bloody meat.

The Bengal is not
the only exotic breed

trying to inject a
wild look into cats.

The Chausie is a cross
between a domestic cat

and another
non-Felis silvestris,

the jungle cat.

And the Savannah is a cross

between a domestic
cat and a serval,

a cat that broke away
from the wildcat's line

over eight-and-a-half
million years ago.

I think these cats
are both the future

and the past of domestic cats.

They represent the thing
that people love and want

as a bit of the
wild in their house,

which is kind of the oldest
reason people love cats anyway.

10,000 years ago,

our first feline furry
house guests moved in.

Since then, they've
traveled the world,

been feared by popes,
and worshipped like gods.

They've hijacked human
instincts for their benefit,

apparently learned to
read human emotions,

but kept their own
feelings under wraps.

They can even entertain us...

as long as we make
it worth their while.

And though they've gone
through subtle genetic changes,

their wild nature has endured
despite our best efforts.

What's more, they've
leveraged some of those traits

to become the
ultimate consumer pet,

bringing a little
bit of the wild

into millions of homes.

And what do cats
make of all this?

As usual, they're not saying.