The Cat's Meow

How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa

By: Jonathan B. Losos

Narrated by: Jonathan B. Losos

Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

The past, present, and future of the world's most popular and beloved pet, from a leading evolutionary biologist and great cat lover.

"Engaging and wide-ranging ... The Cat's Meow is a readable and informed exploration of the wildcat that lurks within Fluffy." —The Washington Post

The domestic cat—your cat—has, from its evolutionary origins in Africa, been transformed in comparatively little time into one of the most successful and diverse species on the planet. Jonathan Losos, writing as both a scientist and a cat lover, explores how researchers today are unraveling the secrets of the cat, past and present, using all the tools of modern technology, from GPS tracking (you’d be amazed where those backyard cats roam) and genomics (what is your so-called Siamese cat . . . really?) to forensic archaeology. In addition to solving the mysteries of your cat's past, it gives us a cat's-eye view of today's habitats, including meeting wild cousins around the world whose habits your sweet house cat sometimes eerily parallels.

Do lions and tigers meow? If not, why not? Why does my cat leave a dead mouse at my feet (or on my pillow)? Is a pet ocelot a bad idea? When and why did the cat make its real leap off the African plain? What’s with all those cats in Egyptian hieroglyphics? In a genial voice, casually deciphering complex science and history with many examples from his own research and multi-cat household, Losos explores how selection, both natural and artificial, over the last several millennia has shaped the contemporary cat, with new breeds vastly different in anatomy and behavior from their ancestral stock. Yet the cat, ever a predator, still seems only one paw out of the wild, and readily reverts to its feral ways as it occupies new lands around the world.

Humans are transforming cats, and they in turn are transforming the world around them. This charming and intelligent book suggests what the future may hold for both Felis catus and Homo sapiens.

©2023 Jonathan B. Losos (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"[An] engaging and wide-ranging narrative... The Cat's Meow is a readable and informed exploration of the wildcat that lurks within Fluffy." —The Washington Post

"Cats are amazing. They fascinate and bewilder us....[the] cat stories detailed here will only heighten the reader's amazment. And Losos has done cats at least as proud as we imagine they pride themselves." —Science

"A wide-ranging guide to the biology of cats, from their evolutionary origins and partial domestication to their behaviour and genetics...Losos is an engaging and often funny guide who explains the science clearly and with nuance." —New Scientist

Good Read and informative

I am an owner of 2 cats who are related. It answers some of my questions.

relevant

since we currently have 12 cats currently (four newborn kittens), this book came in handy. I learned quite a bit and very much enjoyed it.

Great book for any cat or evolutionary biology enthusiast!

Jonathan Losos has got a real passion for both cats and evolutionary biology and both come through in this book. His scientifically minded critical thinking approach to cats, his love and passion for them and the immense research carried out for the book as well as his great narration made this a really enjoyable and worthwhile book to listen to!

A delight for cat lovers of all stripes

I absolutely loved most of this book. The author is an engaging narrator. The book had just the right balance of “yeah I knew that” / "yeah I thought so" and “huh, I didn’t know that.” The author did a great job of explaining scientific concepts so that they would be easy for non-scientists to understand. He is delightfully enthusiastic about his subject matter. The wide variety of material is organized well. I really liked the way he explained the need for certain research, described the research methods abstractly, and then included fun anecdotes about how particular studies actually went. (The parts about studying cats outdoors using GPS collars and cat cams were particularly enjoyable.) I especially learned a lot in the section about creating new breeds of cat, and found out I had some misunderstandings about domestic cat–wild cat hybrid breeds. I'm glad to know more and feel a little less uncomfortable about them.

There were a couple of things I didn't love as much. The author had a habit of describing two sides of an ethical conflict about animal welfare and placing himself smack in the middle of the two camps with a smug "of course, I'm right" attitude. I also didn't like his enthusiasm for the idea of creating saber-toothed cats using CRISPR! Ew! But that's not a complaint about the quality of the book.