Cats

I wanted to find out about where cats originated from.  I have been doing a lot of research of lately on the evolution of man kind. I am really a bird person but love all animals.  Cats are ruling my life at the moment, and for those who have cats, will know what I mean by this.  People think they can just put very young kittens in my garden and I should look after them.  Which I do. I have hand raised quite a few kittens successfully and have find it very rewarding.  The latest nearly died and without a friend's help he probably would of.  His nature is a lot different from all the other kittens that I have raised up to date.  He is a "monster".  He likes playing rough.


The cat existed for millions of years before the first dog.  The ancestor of the cat was called miacis which lived about 65.8 - 55.8 million years ago.

Miacis is the common ancestor of all land-dwelling carnivores, which also includes the dog.

There were other cat-like species before that but Proailurus is considered to be the first “true” cat.  Proailurus appeared about 30 million years ago.  Proailurus means “before the cat”.  Another name is leman’s dawn cat.



There is a gap in fossils after the appearance of the leman’s dawn cat for about 10 million years though they persisted until around 14 million years ago.



A new species called the Pseudaelurus appeared.  Pseudaelurus crossed over to North America by

way of the Bering land bridge from surviving populations in Asia 18.5 million years ago. All modern-day cats are descended from Pseudaelurus.



Pseudaelurus is a prehistoric cat that lived in Europe, Asia and North America in the Miocene approximately 18.5 to 8 million years ago. It is an ancestor of today's felines and pantherines as well as the extinct machairodont saber-tooth, and is a successor to Proailurus. It originated from Eurasia and was the first felid to reach North America, when it entered the continent at about 18.5 Ma ending a 'cat-gap' of 7 million years. The slender proportions of the animal, together with its short, viverrid-like legs, suggest that it may have been an agile climber of trees.

Nimravids and barbourofelids were sabre-toothed cat like animals of the nimravidae and barbourofelidae.  They are not “true cats” of the family felidae but they are closely related to felids

Physically, some Nimravidae and Barbourofelidae resembled the saber-toothed cat

Smilodon, which would not appear until many millions of years later. Nimravidae also became extinct in North America during the "cat gap." The barbourofelids, another feliform cat-like family with saber-toothed morphology are sisters.

Cats began to associate for humans towards the end of the Stone Age.  In Egypt cats were accept in households about 5000 years ago.  Many of these breed evolved from ancient cats. The cat was used to hunt fish and birds and catch rates and mice.  The cat was considered so valuable that laws protected them.

Día de Muertos - day of the dead

When people die, it's the worst thing that can happen to us, but you see they never leave us, not with the memories that we carry in our hearts.  They will always be there as long as there are people that remember then.  The custom to past down memories of them down to the next generation, keeps them always close to us. They will only be really gone when there is nobody left that remembers them

Mexico 

Day of the dead is a holiday celebrated in central and southern Mexico. From midnight 31st October to the 2nd of November.


This is an ancient of honouring the people who have died.  They combined the Catholic holiday called All Souls and All Saint's day.

They believe that the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31, and the spirits of all deceased children (angelitos) are allowed to reunite with their families for 24 hours. On November 2, the spirits of the adults come down to enjoy the festivities that are prepared for them.

It's only in Central and Southern Mexico where the colorful parties take place in the cemeteries and elaborate ofrenda altars are built in the homes to honor their dead.

Northern Mexico, with its less indigenous and more European roots, spend the day scrubbing graves and going to Mass... not having music, drinks and parties in the cemeteries.

India

In most Indian villages, beautiful altars (ofrendas) are made in each home. They are decorated with candles, buckets of flowers (wild marigolds called cempasuchil & bright red cock's combs) mounds of fruit, peanuts, plates of turkey mole, stacks of tortillas and big Day-of-the-Dead breads called pan de muerto. The altar needs to have lots of food, bottles of soda, hot cocoa and water for the weary spirits. Toys and candies are left for the angelitos, and on Novomber 2nd, cigarettes and shots of mezcal are offered to the adult spirits. Little folk art skeletons and sugar skulls, purchased at open-air markets, provide the final touches.

On the afternoon of November 2nd, the festivities are taken to the cemetery. People clean tombs, play cards, listen to the village band and reminisce about their loved ones. Tradition keeps the village close.

Day of the Dead is a very expensive holiday for these self-sufficient, rural based, indigenous families. Many spend over two month's income to honor their dead relatives. They believe that happy spirits will provide protection, good luck and wisdom to their families. Ofrendabuilding keeps the family close.

Animated movies

Animated movies have alway something in them that we can learn from.  Animated moves are not just for kids.  These two moves are very good. Both movies are based on the day of the dead.

Coco

The book of life

Understanding Darwin Theory of Evolution

The theory is all life is related and has descented from a common ancestor. His general theory is that complex creatures evolved from more simplistic ancestor over a  genetic mutations occur within an organism's genetic code, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they aid survival -- a process known as "natural selection." These beneficial mutations are passed on to the next generation. Over time, beneficial mutations accumulate and the result is an entirely different organism (not just a variation of the original, but an entirely different creature).

Ancient Greek philosophers such as Anaximander postulated the development of life from non-life and the evolutionary descent of man from animal. Charles Darwin simply brought something new to the old philosophy -- a plausible mechanism called "natural selection." Natural selection acts to preserve and accumulate minor advantageous.

Natural selection is the preservation of a functional advantage that enables a species to compete better in the wild.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution is a slow gradual process. Darwin wrote, "…Natural selection acts only by taking advantage of slight successive variations; she can never take a great and sudden leap, but must advance by short and sure, though slow steps.

Thus, Darwin conceded that, "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down."

Such a complex organ would be known as an "irreducibly complex system". An irreducibly complex system is one composed of multiple parts, all of which are necessary for the system to function. If even one part is missing, the entire system will fail to function. Every individual part is integral.

Thus, such a system could not have evolved slowly, piece by piece.

The common mousetrap is an everyday non-biological example of irreducible complexity. It is composed of five basic parts: a catch (to hold the bait), a powerful spring, a thin rod called "the hammer," a holding bar to secure the hammer in place, and a platform to mount the trap. If any one of these parts is missing, the mechanism will not work. Each individual part is integral. The mousetrap is irreducibly complex.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution is a theory in crisis in light of the tremendous advances we've made in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics over the past fifty years. We now know that there are in fact tens of thousands of irreducibly complex systems on the cellular level.

Specified complexity pervades the microscopic biological world. Molecular biologist Michael Denton wrote, "Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small ,weighing less than 10-12 grams, each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world."

If only the advances in genetics had been made in tandem with his work on evolution.

Darwin theory of evolution has been proved correct many times over.  Taken in to account that people in that time did not believe in evolution.  Darwin own research and studies helped him to come up with his theory of evolution.  The why question came into play.  Thinking out of the box has proofed useful to many that follow Darwin evolution theory.

Take the jelly fish. It one of the oldest still living on earth from 550 million years ago.

Keys of jellyfish evolutionary success revealed.
Researchers have revealed the evolutionary keys of the jellyfish in a new study. The research reports how the jellyfish has evolved with an increase in the amount of water in its tissue; this process has allowed the jellyfish to become bigger and more gelatinous and also to be an exceptionally efficient hunter.

Homo Sapiens discoveries

Bodo - 600,000 years

Bodo, site of paleoanthropological excavation in the Awash River valley of Ethiopia known for the 1976 discovery of a 600,000-year-old cranium that is intermediate in shape between Homo erectus and H. sapiens; many authorities classify it as a separate species called H. heidelbergensis. Bodo has also yielded abundant animal fossils and Stone Age tools of the Oldowan and Acheulean industries.

The Bodo cranium resembles specimens attributed to H. erectus in having prominent brow ridges, a massive face, and thick cranial bones. Its brain size, however, is larger than most H. erectus specimens and is within the range of H. sapiens. There are several other modern traits as well, including the orientation of the lateral borders of the nose. Overall, the skull is most similar to those of Kabwe (Broken Hill), Zambia, and Petralona, Greece, which are also attributed to H. heidelbergensis. Whatever the classification, the Bodo specimen reveals a transitional morphology between early members of the genus Homo and modern humans. One remarkable feature of the Bodo cranium is the presence of cut marks on the face and braincase within the eye socket. These appear to have been made at the time of death by sharp-edged stone tools.

source : https://www.britannica.com/place/Bodo-anthropological-and-archaeological-site-Ethiopia

Ndutu 400,000 years

The partial cranium from Lake Ndutu, near Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania, has generally been viewed as Homo erectus, although points of similarity to H. sapiens have also been recognized. Bones of the vault are in fact quite thick, and the cranium is small. Length and breadth dimensions are comparable to those of earlier H. erectus from Koobi Fora and Ileret, and the Ndutu individual is more similar in size to O.H. 12 than to O.H. 9. Unfortunately, the facial skeleton and frontal bone are very incomplete, and little useful information can be obtained from these parts of the existing reconstruction. The parietals are also damaged, but the left temporal is more satisfactorily preserved, and the occiput is nearly complete. Occipital morphology, mastoid shape, and characteristics of the glenoid cavity and tympanic plate probably provide the best available guide to affinities of the Ndutu hominid. In many of these features the cranium resembles Broken Hill, Elandsfontein, and other African fossils referred to archaic H. sapiens. There are some similarities to modern humans also, but no ties to the Neanderthals of Europe. Allocation of Ndutu to an African subspecies of H. sapiens seems most appropriate, even if the pattern of relationships between such archaic populations and recent humans is still unclear.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6410925

Jebel Irhoud – 300,000 years

New fossils and age for Jebel Irhoud. Jean-Jacques Hublin and colleagues have published new specimens, new analyses, and a new chronology pointing at 300 ka. All their results robustly confirm what we already knew on these populations: modern face, primitive braincase. Two major advances of these new findings are i) the morphology of Irhoud 10 (the new skull) is apparently so similar to Irhoud 1 (the old skull found back in the ’60s), suggesting that such phenoptype was common and representative, and not only the result of individual variation, and ii) the age around 300 ka, that suggests an earlier origin for our lineage. The braincase and endocast of the new skull were not analysed in this study, probably because of some deformation, and there are no photographs of the fossils (in the paper we can only see the virtual reconstruction of the face), so an assessment of its paleo neurological traits is not available yet. But in this article they re-analyse the old specimens (Jebel Irhoud 1 and 2) through shape analysis, confirming a plesiomorph braincase, apparently (Extended Data Figure 4) because of a reduced parietal and frontal size and curvature. Here a 2013 study I co-authored with Osbjorn Pearson on Jebel Irhoud’s endocast, supporting the same conclusion: they were probably modern humans, but without modern brains. If they were our ancestors, something triggered a subsequent change in brain proportions and organization.

Source: https://paleoneurology.wordpress.com/2017/06/08/jebel-irhoud/ 

Homo naledi 226,000 and 335,000 years

Probing deeper into the South African cave system known as Rising Star, a subterranean maze that last year yielded the largest cache of hominin fossils known to science, an international team of researchers has discovered another chamber with more remains of a newfound human relative, Homo naledi.

The discovery, announced May 9, 2017 with the publication of a series of papers in the journal eLife, helps round out the picture of a creature that scientists now know shared the landscape with modern humans -- and probably other hominin species -- between 226,000 and 335,000 years ago.

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170509083557.htm

Florisbad 260,000

The Florisbad Skull had previously been classified as Homo helmei. This specimen was relatively the same size as modern humans, with a slightly larger brain volume of 1,400 cm³. They are associated with the start of the most important revolutions in human technology.^[2] The skull was also found with Middle Stone Age tools.^[3]

The Florisbad skull comprises the right side of the face, most of the frontal bone, and some of the maxilla, along with portions of the roof and sidewalls. A single, upper right, third molar was also found with the adult skull. In 1996, enamel samples from the tooth went through the electron spin resonance technique which allowed researchers to date the skull to around 259,000 years old.^[4]

The skull also showed extensive porotic hyperostosis as well as a large number of healed lesions, including pathological drainage or vascular tracts. There are also a couple of large puncture marks and scratch-like marks which may reflect carnivore activity^[4]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florisbad_Skull

Omo 1,2 – 195,000 years

Although both Omo I and Omo II were classified as Homo sapiens in 1967, the Omo II remains were considered much more primitive. Finding that the two individuals lived at around the same time in the same location suggests that, when modern humans first appeared, there were other, less modern populations also on the scene. The finding may add some new perspective to how we think about how and when "modern" human anatomy evolved.

Source: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0216_050216_omo_2.html

 

Herto 160,000

The oldest known fossils of modern humans have been discovered in Herto, Ethiopia. An international team led by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, found the skulls of two adults and a child dating from 160,000 years ago - 40,000 years earlier than the previous oldest remains of Homo sapiens.

Source: http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/herto_skulls.php

Kabwe 125,000

Homo rhodesiensis refers to an extinct hominin species of the genus Homo, first described in 1921 by Arthur Smith Woodward in reference to the Kabwe skull fossil recovered from a cave at Broken Hill, or Kabwe, in Zambia (then known as Northern Rhodesia).^[1] A number of morphologically-comparable fossil remains came to light in East Africa (Bodo, Ndutu, Eyasi, Ileret) and North Africa (Salé, Rabat, Dar-es-Soltane, Djbel Irhoud, Sidi Aberrahaman, Tighenif) during the 20th century and were classified as Homo rhodesiensis.^[2]

Smith Woodward decided the fossils represented an extinct hominin species^[3] as the "... thick skull, sloped forehead and giant brow ridges made the species distinct from living people". The finds were dated between 300,000 and 125,000 years BC. "However, this [African] group of fossils has [also] been known by many other now-obscure names",^[4] none ever having been accepted universally, including the taxon Homo rhodesiensis.^[5] The Saldanha cranium, found in 1953 in South Africa was subject to at least three taxonomic revisions from 1955 to 1996. Consensus is confined to informal taxonomic categories, such as "pre-modern".^[6]

Most scientists now regard Homo rhodesiensis as such the direct ancestor of anatomically modern humans.^{[7] [8] [9] [10]}

Source: https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Kabwe%20Skull&item_type=topic

Ngaloba 120,000 

In 1976, a fossil hominid skull was recovered from the Ngaloba Beds at Laetoli, Northern Tanzania; its morphology is discussed here. The discovery of this skull is of great interest and importance because of its very substantial presumed antiquity and its largely anatomically modern morphology. The discovery has considerable implications for the antiquity and origin of modern Homo sapiens, a subject of longstanding interest and one which has gained renewed attention recently.
A New Hominid Fossil Skull (L.H. 18) from the Ngaloba Beds, Laetoli, Northern.... Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/16431546_A_New_Hominid_Fossil_Skull_LH_18_from_the_Ngaloba_Beds_Laetoli_Northern_Tanzania [accessed Mar 23 2018].

Qafzeh and Skhul fossils ~100,000 years

The Skhul/Qafzeh hominins or Qafzeh–Skhul early modern humans^[1] are hominin fossils discovered in the Qafzeh and Es Skhul Caves in Israel. They are today classified as Homo sapiens, among the earliest of their species in Eurasia. Skhul Cave is on the slopes of Mount Carmel; Qafzeh Cave is a rock shelter in Lower Galilee.

The remains found at Es Skhul, together with those found at the Wadi el-Mughara Caves and Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh, were classified in 1939 by Arthur Keith and Theodore D. McCown as Palaeoanthropus palestinensis, a descendent of Homo heidelbergensis.

The remains exhibit a mix of traits found in archaic and anatomically modern humans. They have been tentatively dated at about 80,000-120,000 years old using electron paramagnetic resonance and thermoluminescence dating techniques.^[5] The brain case is similar to modern humans, but they possess brow ridges and a projecting facial profile like Neanderthals. They were initially regarded as transitional from Neanderthals to anatomically modern humans, or as hybrids between Neanderthals and modern humans. Neanderthals remains have been found nearby at Kebara Cave that date to 61,000-48,000 years ago,^[6] but it has been hypothesised that the Skhul/Qafzeh hominids had died out by 80,000 years ago because of drying and cooling conditions, favouring a return of a Neanderthal population^[7] suggesting that the two types of hominids never made contact in the region. A more recent hypothesis is that Skhul/Qafzeh hominids represent the first exodus of modern humans from Africa around 125,000 years ago, probably via the Sinai Peninsula, and that the robust features exhibited by the Skhul/Qafzeh hominids represent archaic sapiens features rather than Neanderthal features.^[7] The discovery of modern human made tools from about 125,000 years ago at Jebel Faya, United Arab Emirates, in the Arabian Peninsula, may be from an even earlier exit of modern humans from Africa.^[

 

Graecopithecus freybergi: Oldest Hominin Lived in Europe, not Africa

An international team of paleoanthropologists, led by Professor Madelaine Böhme of the University of Tübingen, Germany, has analysed 7.2 million-year-old remains of the hominin Graecopithecus freybergi and came to the conclusion that they belong to pre-humans.


They came to the conclusion that the earliest Hominin lived in Europe and not Africa.  Don't get to excited as only the jaws have been discovered.  There is not enough proof that this is the case. 

source :  http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/graecopithecus-freybergi-hominin-04888.html




I have put together an human evolution chart that includes the latest discoveries.  This is done using information obtained from the internet.  This information might differ to other material on the internet.  I have done this as I have not found a up to date chart on the internet.  This is of great interest to me and I am sure it of great interest to others.




You can click on the names as they are connected to links, and you can explore the evolution of man yourself.  I have added links to what the skull looked like.  The one above does not have a skull as only the jaw was found.  The specimens were found in to different countries.

Human Evolution Chart
ANCIENT HOMINIDS
SCIENTIFIC NAME	AGE	LOCATION	Skull
Graecopithecus freybergi	7.2 million years	Greece/Bulgaria	no
Sahelanthropus tchadensis	7 million years	Chad	yes
Orrorin tugenensis	6 million years	Western Kenya	yes
Ardipithecus kadabba	5,8 - 5,2 million years	Afar Depression	yes
Ardipithecus ramidus	4.4 million years	Afar Depression	yes
Australopithecus anamensis	4,2 - 3,9 million years	Kenya	yes
Australopithecus afarensis	4,0 - 2,7 million years	Afar Depression	yes
Australopithecus bahrelghazali	3,6 million years	Chad	yes
Kenyanthropus platyops	3,5 - 3,2 million years	Kenya	yes
Australopithecus africanus	3,3 - 2,1 million years	South Africa	yes
Homo naledi	3,0 million years ago	South Africa	yes
Paranthropus aethiopicus	2,7 - 2,4 million years	Ethiopia, Kenya	yes
Paranthropus boisei	2,6 - 1,1 million years	Tanzania	yes
Australopithecus garhi	2,5 million years	Afar Depression	yes
Homo Habilis	2,5 - 1.44 million years	Africa	yes
Paranthropus robustus	2,3 - 1,2 million years	South Africa	yes
Australopithecus sediba	1,98 million years	South Africa	yes
Homo ergaster	1,9 - 1,4 millions years ago	Africa	yes
Homo eructus	1,9 million years - unknown	South Africa, Kenya	yes
		Spain, China, Java (Indonesia)
Homo rudolfensis	1,89 million years	Kenya	yes
Dmanisi Hominid Homo georgicus	1,8 million years 1,77 million years	Georgia Republic of Georgia	yes yes
Homo antecessor	1 million - 800,000 years	Spain	yes
Homo cepranensis	900,000 - 800,000 years	Italy	yes
Homo heidelbergensis	400,000 - 200,000 years	Heidelberg, Germany	yes
Homo sapiens	300,000 years - present	Africa, rest of the world	yes
Homo neanderthalensis	200,000 to 40,000 years	Eurasia	yes
Homo floresiensis	190,000 - 50,000 years ago	Indonesian island of Flores	yes
Denisova	48,650 - 29,200	Russia	yes
Cro-Magnon	40,000 - 10,000	France	yes
AMH/EMH