NEWS LAB Feline DNA research UK

[Guest guest]

The Independent, London 09 August 2005

 

Revealed: the feline family ties that bind all cats

By Steve Connor, Science Editor

 

Whether it is the fearsome sabre-toothed tiger of prehistoric times, the

graceful cheetah or the domestic tabby, a DNA study has shown that cats are

a tight-knit group of animals.

 

Research into the genetic relationship between the cats - living and extinct

- has confirmed the common ancestry of some of the most terrifying yet

beautiful predators on earth.

 

Within 15 million years - less than a quarter of the time since mammals rose

to prominence after the demise of the dinosaurs - the cat family evolved to

become the supreme land predators.

 

Unravelling the complex family tree of cats has traditionally relied on the

skills of zoologists and palaeontologists - scientists trained to make

judgements based on the shape, structure and age of bones.

 

In recent years a new tool has emerged based on the analysis of a special

kind of DNA found in tiny cellular structures called mitochondria, the only

DNA found outside the cell's nucleus.

 

Scientists from Britain, the US, Canada, Sweden and Australia used

mitochondrial DNA from the blood of living cats and the bones of dead ones

to update the Felidae family tree.

 

Their conclusions broadly support many of the judgements from earlier

studies, but the scientists have also made some fascinating insights into

how some cat species came into existence.

 

It was thought for instance that cheetahs may have evolved in the New World

and moved to the Old World where they gave rise to the cheetahs alive today.

 

" There has been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing of animals across the land

bridge separating North America and Asia at the Bering Strait, " said Ross

Barnett of Oxford University's Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre.

 

However, when the scientists analysed the mitochondrial DNA of the American

" cheetah " , a species called Miracinonyx trumani, they found that its closest

relative was not the African cheetah but the American mountain lion or puma,

Puma concolor.

 

" The data suggests that cheetahs originated in the Old World and that a

puma-like cat invaded North America around six million years ago, " Mr

Barnett said.

 

Mitochondrial DNA from the bones of a museum specimen of Miracinonyx

suggests that its closest relative is the American puma, and that they

shared a common ancestor as recently as three million years ago - half the

age of the Old World cheetah.

 

The difficulty with understanding the true origin of the American " cheetah "

is that it had evolved to look similar to the true Old World cheetah because

of what is known as convergent evolution - unrelated animals coming to look

the same because they occupy the same ecological niche.

 

Another facet of the study shows that although the sabre-toothed cats belong

to the same family as the domestic cat, they are the most distantly related

members of the cat family. " The study confirms what the palaeontologists

said about sabretooths being a separate subfamily within the cats, " Mr

Barnett said.

 

And what about the domestic cat? The present study does not assess the age

of the moggy's last shared ancestor with the pumas, cheetahs and jaguars -

its closest living relatives - but a study in Cyprus last year showed that

man and cat have been close friends for at least 9,500 years.

 

---

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

[ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing

original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide,

founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the

decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations.

We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year;

for free sample, send address.]

--

Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

Postal mailing address: P.O. Box 960, Clinton WA 98236 U.S.A.

CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS IS: <ANPEOPLE

Website: http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/ with French and Spanish

language subsections.

 

 

Something to think about: We believe that the Golden Rule

applies to animals, too. We don't accept the prevailing notion

that " people come first' " or that " people are more important than

animals. " Animals feel pain and suffer just as we do, and it is

almost always humans making animals suffer and not the other way

around. Yet in spite of how cruelly people behave towards animals

-- not to mention human cruelty to other humans -- we are supposed to

believe that humans are superior to other animals. If people want

to fancy themselves as being of greater moral worth than the other

creatures on this earth, we should begin behaving better than they

do, and not worse. Let's start treating everyone as we would like

to be treated ourselves.