evolution and your cat

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If you have a cat (or another pet species) do you ever wonder how many years back in evolution it is that you and the pet were the same species?

I am nuts about my cat, and it seems to be mutual. For some reason it gives me much pleasure to consider when we were both lemmers together about 50 million years ago. (Actually, I am not sure that that is accurate as far as the known evolutionary history of cats and humans, so if someone knows, please feel free to disabuse me of my ignorance. It will only enhance my fantasy to get the details more correct.)

My main point is about the pleasure derived from considering that point in the past where you and your pet were the same species living together and any thoughts related to that.

I often think it when I look at other people.

I look at their faces and I wonder which species they actually come from.

Like some people look like cats, others rats, and some people even look like fish.

I sometimes wonder that when I see other apes such as gorillas and chimpanzees behaving and expressing themselves in ways that are recognisable as shared behaviour with humans. I wonder what is going through their minds and what thoughts they have and their level of consciousness as compared to humans.

Felines diverted from humans' evolutionary line before 50 million years ago. Lemurs are primates and are more closely related to us.

Cats, of course, are domesticated felines; many of their characteristics were determined by human-induced breeding.

Yes. Cats are not descended from lemurs. Lemurs are already on the primate branch off of the family tree of placental mammals.

The common ancestor of humans and cats was an earlier critter. Probably something like a modern shrew. A tiny noctornal hunter of insects and earthworms that stayed small, and stayed noctornal, to avoid being eaten by the large diurnal dinosaurs.

Humans and cats probably both trigger instincts in each other. An adult cat is about the same size as a human infant. And an adult human (above the knees) is about the same ratio in size to an adult cat as a momcat is to her kittens. So they trigger our parental instincts, and we remind them of their moms.