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A Brief History About Why Cats are Cute Little Murder Monsters

by Matthew Hart
Apr 13 2017 • 10:30 AM

Here’s the thing about cats: They’re extremely cute, but they also love to murder. See, strike, kill, cuddle. It’s in their blood. And for some reason, this combination of unbearable cuteness and ruthless slaughter — big innocent eyes and dagger-sharp claws — is endlessly appealing for we humans. Now, in a new video done in partnership with It’s Okay To Be Smart, YouTube channel MinuteEarth explains how some of the deadliest, roam-iest, prey stalkers became our best little friends who like to watch us while we sleep, for some reason…

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The video begins with some pretty spectacular cat facts (or cacts as they shall be known henceforth), like the cact that the world population of domesticated cats, if lined up, would stretch out into a “kitty conga line” wrapping nearly six times around Earth. Or the cact that, in the U.S., there’s one cat for every 3.7 people.

The origin of our little “murder machines,” the video notes, is traced back to Asia, 11 million years ago. The name for the big cat that first spawned all of today’s modern kitties, Pseudaelurus, is given in the description. A “Restoration of an American Specimen” reveals a beast who’s millions of years extinct, but still undeniably cat:

Pseudaelurus Image: Wikimedia / Jay Matternes

Although this isn’t the first animated cat background video we’ve ever seen — why do cats act so weird? — it’s definitely impossible to know too many cacts. Like, did you know that Ancient Egyptians worshipped a cat-headed deity named Bastet?

What do you think about this video on the domestication of cats? Ask your cat if you’re allowed to comment then do so below!

Images: YouTube / MinuteEarth