I got a question about Cats.....?

if lions tigers pumas cheetahs and house cats are all related, then how come the wild cats are so big and the hosue cat so small? how did it become so small??

I got a question about Cats.....?
The evolution of cats began millions of years ago. 50 million


years ago carnivores called the Miacis, a weasel like animal,


is the ancestor of cats as well as other families such as dogs,


bears, raccoons, civets, and hyenas. From Miacis the


African Wild Cat evolved.





The early form of a cat dates back to 40 million years. This


creature was known as a Dinictis and was about the size


of a Lynx.





The first true cats were found at the beginning of the Pliocene Period,


which was about 12 million years ago. The evolutionary processes


led to three main types of cats


found at: http://petcaretips.net/cat_history.html
Reply:There are different breads of wild cats some of them quite small. while other cats where just bread to be smaller. Most house cats come from smaller versions of wild cats.
Reply:Like most animals they grow to whatever sizre they need to fit an environment. By that I mean what the food availablity is and how they get it.





An African lion attacks big game, gazelles, water buffalo etc. If it were house cat sized it would not get too far, just as an African Lion would not do so well catching mice and small birds.





The North American Mountain lion usually goes after deer. most deer are in the 100 to 200 pound range and that happens to be the about the size a mountain lion can handle. If over a long period of time deer grew in size to be four hundred pounds the descendants of succesful mountain lions would probably grow to a size to be able to catch them, like the now extinct Sabre tooth cats. Or adapt hunting techniques like pack hunting that African lions use.





They adapt to their environment. (Evolution works)





If house cats had to fend for themselves and only had access to larger game they would eventually get larger or adapt different techniques or attributes to help catch the larger game.
Reply:a bob cat is also small too..


just like people we all come in differences..


they adapt to their surroundings....
Reply:breeding...some kind of cat that starts with a C...cervel?
Reply:The same reason that a finch is really small, but there are other birds that are huge like the albatross, or a hawk...


The domesticated cat is just a different type of the species.
Reply:ACTUALLY, Cat's are DESCENDED from Wolves. And if you don't believe me, look it up. The cat's ancestors; Wolves. (trust me)
Reply:Yeah; rats and mice are similar %26amp; their sizes are quite different, too.
Reply:Because God made them that way.....DUH.(Thinking)"Stupid head"
Reply:um cuz they're dumb
Reply:same reason as having a shaq o'neill and a vern troyer. genetics.
Reply:they are so small so u can keep them in ur house if they were big like loins how can u keep them in ur house????will u keep a loin at ur house??????
Reply:evolution and breeding
Reply:There is a chinese legend where the domestic cat is a cross-breed between a big cat and monkies
Reply:Not all wild cats are very large, some are the size of a large house cat. The different breeds we have today are from selective breeding just like dogs.
Reply:Well, people bred small cats to make smaller ones
Reply:i would think it was due to breeding sizes ...