The history of the world according to cats - Eva-Maria Geigl

In ancient times, wildcats were fierce carnivorous hunters. And unlike dogs, who have undergone centuries of selective breeding, modern cats are genetically very similar to ancient cats. How did these solitary, fierce predators become our sofa sidekicks? Eva-Maria Geigl traces the domestication of the modern house cat.

Lesson by Eva-Maria Geigl, directed by Chintis Lundgren.

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[kyle]

Imagine being a sailor looking for survivors and there he is,
Just floating in the water
"Unsinkable Sam."

[charliefischer]

I love how the British destroyer is portrayed as a row boat named destroyer with 3 guys drinking tea in it

[KirstenJoyWeiss]

*That cat is the perfect spy.*
Sunk 3 ships, & not only did the ppl not realize he was the culprit, they heralded him as a national hero! Hail unsinkable Sam 😼😹!

[lizzyjeanne]

I had a cat who lived to be 18 years old. She was incredibly loving and affectionate. She liked all people so long as they had hands and laps. She talked to me constantly and slept next to my pillow every night. When I was sad, she refused to leave me and would crawl up to my face and purr until I felt better. She was basically the nicest person I knew. She died in my arms when I was 7 months pregnant with my first baby. She was a good cat, and lived a good life. She took good care of me until she knew I would be ok with a baby to replace her. I am glad all cats are not like her, because then she wouldn’t have been as special as she was. RIP Willow.

[anastasiafalcon]

"As the cats learned to tolerate the presence of humans"
Sounds pretty accurate.

[grannyedna]

Plot twist: Sam actually sank the ships he was sailing on.

[lowriderhd]

The most amazing part about cats is that humans are literally the only other species that they fully acknowledge and communicate with. Cats speak to us. They look us in the eye. They speak to no other species except for the occasional bird and mouse chatter or meowing at a familiar dog, and hissing at strangers. The friendly chatter and meow, meowing back at us while looking at us, everything that we hear from our cats is directed solely at us, no one else. Not to the other cats, not to the dog, but only for us, and that’s pretty amazing if you think about it.

[Jedzelex]

I love how the animator was instructed to draw British sailors. And he achieved that by having them drinking tea while eating crumpets. Brilliant.

[LaurenElizabethYT]

Whenever I tell my cat that she’s a pretty kitty, or the best kitty, or anything complimentary, she always gives me a look that seems to say “Well, obviously” 😅

[Yggdraseed]

An Egyptian prince, I believe he was Thutmose II, had a cat that he loved dearly. He apparently gave her the name Ta-miut; from what we can decipher of the ancient Egyptian language, "ta" denotes a feminine noun and "miut" is a sort of onomatopoeic word for cat. So he essentially named her Miss Kitty. And when she died, the prince entombed Miss Kitty in her own sarcophagus, complete with a relief carved on the side depicting her seated in front of a table loaded with food offerings.

[logannorgaard]

The animations of cats are on point. I love the annoyed “meows”😂

[kaylamenne]

I love the animation in this. Unsinkable Sam just looking at the British sailors like, “Bro, you gonna help me out or what”?

[rishinixon]

"They are wild animals, fierce hunters" My cat bites her own leg because she kicked herself in the face.
seems legit.

[ValnarianKnight]

"Cats are not domesticated. They are wild animals that have consented to live with us. " - My Mom

[jabbermocky]

My grandfather was a merchant sea captain. He wrote many letters to my grandmother during the 1930s, while he was at port in England, Europe and South America, until February 1942 when his ship was torpedoed by Nazis off the New Jersey coast and he was killed along with his crew. My father, his son, was only 4 years old when his dad died. One letter, particularly, is lovely to read. He writes about discovering a cat onboard his ship after departing from Venezuela. He took that as a sign of "good luck" and enjoyed the cat's company in his own cabin. I love cats, too. No idea what became of that kitty. I do know that the captain of the ship which discovered my grandfather's lifeboat after his own ship had been shelled to the bottom ascertained that 2 men out of approximately 20 total crewmen survived, after rescue, for a short time. All others had frozen to death in lifeboats, including my grandfather. His body was set adrift in the Atlantic to be claimed by the waves. I still hope that kitty made it, somehow. Sigh.

[witchhunt]

You did not mention companionship. Many military personnel have a cart simply for companionship for PTSD. My son always has a cat. I lucked out I adopted an unadoptable feral cat. She is trainable but I doubt she will ever be completely domesticated. She is my companion, my entertainment, and when needed she calms me. We are both retired military. And I have survived domestic violence by my father and two husbands. Cats. 💕

[phoenixx]

1:57
Whoever drew that cat deserves a raise

[sofiehall]

"Sometime 10.000 years ago we domesticated humans."

[muh.andianto]

Once in my lifetime there was a neighborhood cat. He's always avoiding people.
One night, he took a shelter under my room window when raining. I opened the window, and offered some foods. He hesitated. So I left my window open with the foods. Next morning, the foods were gone. But the night, he came again, waiting for the foods. I gave him again.
Since then, he always showed up every time I came home at night. Jumped out to the window, and entering my room, sleeping, and woke me up on the morning.
Sadly, it just happened for a year and half. I never seen him again. I never had chance to adopt him because of everyday work. But that's beauty of it. I feel being loved because we cared eachother even though there's no a contract between us.

[Theloversconjure]

My cats are crazy protective of me. They follow me everywhere I go, guard the washroom while I’m in there, and will lunge and hiss at anyone or anything they perceive as a threat (I only found out about the hissing from one of my male employees- they’ve never ever hissed around my daughter or me 😂). We love each other very dearly and I couldn’t be more grateful that they chose me to be their mama. 😇