50 Cats Who Are Just Too Derpy For Their Own Good (New Pics)

When thinking of a feline, Garfield is likely to pop into your head first rather than a puma. But the domesticated cat as we know it came from the felidae family of mammals, comprising animals such as jaguars, leopards, lions, tigers, and cheetahs, among others. After quite some time of alteration, the species developed into the furry, lovable goofballs we now observe sleeping peacefully in the wilderness of a living room. (Be that as it may, a domestic cat still shares as much as 95% of its genome with an actual tiger.)

It is believed that there are around 40-100 different domesticated cat breeds. Some of the most popular ones include the Siamese, Persian, Maine Coon, and Ragdoll, followed by the Bengal and Abyssinian. What is slightly more difficult to determine, though, is the exact number of cats currently wandering the streets around the world. It is estimated that there are around 600 million of them globally.

Even after finding their forever homes, kitties might exhibit some features that were predetermined by genetics or something out of the new owner’s control. As Dr. Tony Buffington explains in this TED-Ed video, there's a scientific reason cats are such creeps—it reflects their evolutionary history. 

"Cats today retain many of the same instincts that allowed them to thrive in the wild for millions of years," Buffington said. "This explains some of their seemingly strange behaviors: To them, our homes are their jungles."

According to cat behaviorist and educator Alice Chau-Ginguene, there are four main factors that affect cat behavior the most. She discussed them with Bored Panda in a recent interview, naming genetics as the first one: “If the cat’s parents were of a nervous nature, they are more prone to being nervous.” The second factor was the in-vitro condition: “Studies show that mothers undergoing stress during pregnancy will be more likely to have nervous kittens,” Alice added.

Kittenhood and adoption were the next two factors believed to have an effect on a pet’s behavior. While talking about the former, cat behaviorist Alice Chau-Ginguene expanded: “The experience of the first few months of the cat’s life will affect how they perceive the world. For e.g., if kittens have never been picked up during the first few months of their life, they are more likely to be scared of being picked up.”

She also covered the fourth factor—adoption: “Often, owners only come into the picture at this stage. So you can see there are many things out of their control at the start, but all is not lost. There is so much we can do by management, enrichment, and training the first day you take your cat home.” 

According to Alice, it’s not only a matter of taking action; it all starts with awareness. “The problem is that society has this wrong perception that cats are ‘low maintenance’. Most people just take the cat home, open the carrier, and hope for the best. That’s not right,” she said.