There is a lot of ‘wild’ left even in domesticated cats compared to dogs. Any animal that still retains the instinct to hunt for survival has to be intelligent.

There is a lot of ‘wild’ left even in domesticated cats compared to dogs. Any animal that still retains the instinct to hunt for survival has to be intelligent. Since the time of pyramids and pharaohs, cats have remained wild and have domesticated the humans. What we now know as domesticated cats have extra special set of skills..they know how to create and retain memories. They understand reward based stimuli. There has been enormous research done in the field of cat genetics. UC Davis leads with the cat genetics lab and esp for their work on cat coat genetics. But we also know what genes changed and evolved for their intelligence as they morphed from feral to domestic. The most relevant one to intelligence are glutamate receptors that aids learning and memory. Domesticated animals have evolved to developed more coat variations and pigmentations than wild animals. This is why you don’t find a calico tiger but not only are there calico cats, but we also know that their genes guarantee that almost all are also female. Male calicos are sterile and short lived. It is in the area of cat coat genetics that UC Davis VGL has made enormous strides. There are five key traits that facilitate domestication and one of them is the wide variability in pigmentation/texture of coats. Even though cats have been around humans, they were allowed to be ‘wild’ and have resisted the intense pressure to adapt for full on domestication. In a way, they have been more useful in agrarian societies in their undomesticated state and largely due to their hunting instincts…..which once tamed and trained is no longer as effective. Hunting rodents is a far different job that herding docile domesticated sheep.