Domestication: Cat's and Humans

Hanita Haller; 1/13/15
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/opinion/our-cats-ourselves.html

   This article is about controlled evolution, or as it is more commonly called, domestication.  Most people do not think of domestication as a type of evolution, but that is exactly what it is.  Humans have created a new ecosystem for themselves, and have coevolved with those that have been introduced to and welcomed in their new ecosystem.  This new ecosystem has given humans smaller brains, smaller jaws, and an extraordinary variation in colors.  Dogs have exhibited the same changes, in addition to a variety of size and shape.
   The article focuses more on cats, who have been partially domesticated.  Because they have only been coexisting with humans in our newly invented ecosystem for 1/3 of the time that dogs have, cats have not evolved in the same way that humans and dogs have.  House cats have smaller skulls and jaws than their wild counterparts, but have yet to produce a wide range in size and shape, or give up on their hunting instinct.  The cats' jaws and brain reduced in size quickly because they no longer have to hunt for their own food, or chew tough meat, but the other signs of domestication must come by chance - or through breeding.

   The article's focus on domestication and genetic variation links back to the current unit on evolution.  Coevolution is also referenced repeatedly, which happens to be one of our unit vocabulary words.  Most importantly, the article talks about the genetic history of humans, and the impact that we have had on the world, and on other species, a topic which has been important to the entire Honors Biology course.