Die Geschichte der Katze — Transcript

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1. 0:03The House Cat - mysterious and predatory. Once a wild animal that has voluntarily followed man for thousands of years.
2. 0:12She is adaptable and sociable - but the only pet that has maintained her independence.
3. 0:22In the Neolithic Age - more than 9,500 years ago - the cat discovers the proximity of man to himself.
4. 0:30It is the granaries of the Neolithic, that attract the shy predators.
5. 0:35There, mice and other rodents tamper with the supplies.
6. 0:41Farmers quickly realize that wildcats are useful pest killers.
7. 0:46Therefore, they do not mind if the cats conquer the storage facility as a new hunting ground.
8. 0:55The African wildcat is considered the origin of all domestic cat breeds. This has been proven by genetic testing.
9. 1:02Over the millennia, the domestic cat spread across the globe - and indeed on the side of man. She follows him everywhere.
10. 1:15The first finds have been made by archaeologists in Cyprus. There, a Neolithic tomb was discovered.
11. 1:21It contained the skeleton of a man and of an African wildcat.
12. 1:28The cat's body was oriented westward just as the man's.
13. 1:33Archaeozoologists conclude that humans and cats have already entered into a close relationship in ancient times.
14. 1:44Even in ancient Egypt, the cat was very popular as a pest controller, because annoying rodents were up to mischief in the granaries.
15. 1:56The African wildcat managed to contain the devastating plague and rat pest nationwide crucial.
16. 2:06Who knows, maybe Egypt would never have become the breadbasket of North Africa without the cat.
17. 2:15In proportion to her body size, the cat has the largest eyes of all predators.
18. 2:20The eyes are particularly sensitive to light and can detect a spatial range of about 220 degrees.
19. 2:30What the cat does not see, that's what she hears. Twenty muscles turn their ears in almost any direction - independently.
20. 2:39This makes it able to locate even the smallest sources of noise. Not even in the darkness is a rodent safe from its quick access.
21. 2:52And she can smell six times better than humans. Especially when sniffing pheromones, she is in the lead.
22. 3:01Pheromones are the body's own scents that secrete cats through their numerous glands - as a message to their conspecifics: I've been here!
23. 3:14Her touch is also terrific: the whiskers are especially sensitive.
24. 3:19They serve as antennas to explore obstacles or narrow spots day and night, or to spot prey animals via fine air vortexes.
25. 3:33All of Egypt paid homage to the new miracle animal. Cats, even big cats, occupied a special position in the world of the Ancient Egyptians.
26. 3:43Cats were even mummified like kings.
27. 3:47The Israelites who lived for a long period in the Pharaonic land condemned the cat cult.
28. 3:53The entire animal world of the gods was incomprehensible to them. There was only one God for them.
29. 4:00In Islam, that looked very different. There, cats wre among the pure animals and are worshiped accordingly.
30. 4:07The Prophet Muhammad is said to have very much liked cats.
31. 4:12And Buddhists believe that when their cat dies, they say good-bye to Buddha for their owner -
32. 4:20it is a symbol of peace, happiness and wealth.
33. 4:26When in ancient times Rome became the new superpower, the Romans also discovered their love for the cat.
34. 4:35And the cat-human relationship makes a quantum leap, although this hardly leaves any trace in the genome of the predators:
35. 4:43The cat is nowadays also a tame creature.
36. 4:49In the mythological world of northern Europe, where natural sanctuaries, fairies and trolls have long shaped people's imagination, cats are said to have magical powers.
37. 5:02A sudden end comes to its role as a magical being, as monks declared, cats were the epitome of pagan mistaken beliefs.
38. 5:11With the spread of Christianity, the cat's future became bleak.
39. 5:16To its negative image also contributed that it neither gave eggs nor milk, meat or wool.
40. 5:25In the 13th century, the cat was condemned as a companion of Satan. Preachers like Berthold von Regensburg raged against the cat:
41. 5:34"Drive them out of your kitchens, for cat comes from heretic!"
42. 5:40Although the Mouse Hunter performed valuable services, it was the symbol of all vices for the Fathers of the Church.
43. 5:48Cat lovers were suddenly under general suspicion, especially women. The witch hammer is a testimony from this gloomy time.
44. 6:02Since the Middle Ages, cats have lost their shady image.
45. 6:07But nevertheless there are the most beautiful stories about the relationships between cat and human.
46. 6:15Goethe once wrote a poem from the perspective of a cat. And Einstein's cat was notorious for her moods.
47. 6:22His tomcat Tiger was depressed when it rained, to which he commented, "I know what you do not like, but I do not know how to turn it off".
48. 6:32Hemingway's tomcat "Snowball" had six toes and took the writer's heart by storm.
49. 6:40And Choupette is probably the most famous cat in the world.
50. 6:44Karl Lagerfeld's muse is cared for by two nannies, flies in the private jet accompanied by bodyguards and even has his own fashion collection.
51. 6:58The rise from the mouse catcher to the most popular pet in the world has its price.
52. 7:04Designers cats are very popular. From the USA comes the Toyger - a house cat with a wild cat look.
53. 7:13Even in comics, movies or on the Internet - cats have long since conquered the showbizz.
54. 7:20Grumpy Cat has earned more in recent years than many Hollywood stars. Also "Hello Kitty" is doing well commercially.
55. 7:27More than a billion dollars a year are spent on the pink cat.
56. 7:36As a small prey hunter, the cat has voluntarily followed humans for millennia.
57. 7:44But her unpredictable nature and her desire for freedom have been preserved to this day.