From The Beginning Of Time Flashcards
(4 cards)
Chapter 1- Miacids, Dog and Cat Ancestor?
Resource- Wild Cats, Past and Present, by: John E. Becker
Prowling through the murky darkness of the past, was a mammal. This animal was known as a “miacid”. Miacids were small, about the size of an overgrown ally cat!
Some scientists believe that miacids were the ancestors of both dogs and cats. These mammals had claws that retracted like cats’ claws, but they also chewed their food with crushing molar teeth, just as dogs do.
Miacids disappeared long ago, but scientists tell us that our present day ring-tailed cats (which really aren’t cats at all) look quite similar to miacids.
Miacids had traits of both dogs and cats, so you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that the miacid’s family tree eventually split about 48 million years ago. From that time on, dogs and cats evolved separately. The “dog” group, known as canids, was composed to wolf-like animals. The canids eventually became wolves, foxes, and dogs.
The other group, known as felids, included cat-like animals. Felids eventually became cats, hyenas, mongooses, and genets. Some of those animals are more closely related than others. The cat’s closest relatives are genets and civets, animals that people often mistakenly call “cats”.
Chapter 2- The Earliest True Cat: Proailurus and Pseudaelurus
Scientists estimate that the first real cats pounced into the world approximately thirty million years ago. They may not have been here when the dinosaurs ruled the ancient reptile world, but the family roots of the cat are still fairly old.
