And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind...
Genesis 1:24
Jonathan Losos, the William H. Danforth Distinguished University
Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, uses evolution to try
to explain why cats are so popular. He does not succeed.
The first
problem is that, even though he claims to be an evolutionary biologist,
he admits that he spent most of his professional career “studying how
species adapt to their environment.”
In other words, he has spent his career researching the good design of
animals and why this design enables them to thrive in their environment.
When we think of evolution, we normally think of the view that molecules evolved into man. ‘Evolution’ is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as the process
by which new species or populations of life develop from preexisting
life-forms, explaining the appearance of new species by the action of
biological mechanisms including genetic mutation and natural selection.
When the term “evolution” is used, most readers often think not of the
normal variations existing in all life, but molecules-to-man evolution.
Losos writes about the many cat kinds, noting the large variety that exists including
Big cats – like lions, tigers and pumas – [which] are the attention-grabbing celebrities of the feline world. But of the 41 species of wild felines, the vast majority are about the size of a housecat. Few people have heard of the black-footed cat or the Borneo bay cat, much less the kodkod, oncilla or marbled cat.
He claims that any of these species could have been the progenitor of
the modern domestic cat. Losos then speculates about the process that
converted a wild cat into the tame house cat we have today. To do this
he includes it in a general explanation about the domestication of not
only cats, but also dogs, horses, sheep, goats, and scores of other
animals. The plot revolves around the idea that people started raising
crops and storing the excess harvest for lean times. These granaries led
to rodent population explosions.
The plot thickens. Some wildcats took advantage of this bounty and
soon more cats began hanging around the granaries. People soon saw the
benefit of having the cats around and treated them kindly, giving them
food and even shelter. Some cats entered people’s huts. Some even
allowed themselves to be petted and, voilà, the domestic cat was born!
Losos then adds that the reason the North African wildcat gave rise to our household companions was because
In other words, from Losos’ description (and inadvertent admission), it appears that the modern cat was created to be what it is today: namely, the modern ideal companion of humans, found the world over, negating his claim that any of the species he named could have been the progenitor of the modern domestic cat.African wildcats are among the friendliest of feline species; raised gently, they can make affectionate companions. In contrast, despite the most tender attention, their close relative the European wildcat grows up to be hellaciously mean.
This
“created for us” position was confirmed by recent DNA studies that
“demonstrate unequivocally that today’s house cats arose from the
African wildcat – specifically, the North African subspecies, Felis silvestris lybica.”
Genetic comparisons determined that “only 13 genes have been changed by
natural selection during the domestication process. By contrast, almost
three times as many genes changed during the descent of dogs from
wolves.”
**I would add that we have only evidence that 13 genes are different.
We have no evidence that 13 genes were changed in the domestication
process. If the domestication process was the source of the change, it
must have occurred in a very early stage because, as far as is known,
all modern domesticated cats have these 13 unique genes.
*It is more
logical to conclude that domesticated cats were bred by humans to be the
variety of domesticated cats existing today, and all domesticated cats
descended from this first created domesticated cat.
His article on the evolution of the domestication of cats assumes that
the cat’s domestication evolved, but the evidence he gives can better be
explained as part of their being created (and intentionally bred by man
to produce the variety existing today) to serve humans by, 
among other
roles, reducing the rodent population.
*To be house cats, though, after
their birth they must have very early contact with humans. Not having
this contact allows them to survive in the wild, supporting the view
that, although created to be human companions, they have another
adaptive nature that allows them to survive in the wild, i.e., the
non-human world."
