And, of Course, Cats

[lsanderson]

It was a heavy week for cat news: Iran announced that it might send a Persian into space, as a prelude to sending a human in 2018; scientists sequenced the genome of the rare Siberian tiger, the largest of the cat family, and found “more than 95 percent similarity to the genome of the domestic cat”; and John Bradshaw, a British anthrozoologist, published an article in New Scientist magazine about why our cats aren’t very nice to us (hint: it’s not in their nature, as that genome news suggests). Dr. Bradshaw’s newly released book, “Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet,” takes the stance that we should take steps to breed cats that are nicer human companions because the current system of spaying and neutering our fluffy lap pets while bringing feral kittens into shelters for adoption could produce generations of meaner kitties. Source