Beverly Hills Lingual Institute
Beverly Hills Lingual Institute
Beverly Hills Lingual Institute
Beverly Hills Lingual Institute

Blog      Language, Learning and Culture

Classes in More than 35 Languages return to blog index

Are You a Dog or Cat Person?

Dogs were the first domesticated animals. There remains debate about the origin of the first domesticated dog, these disputes centering on whether the first pet dogs emerged in Europe, the Middle East, or East Asia. The earliest known evidence of a domesticated dog is a jawbone found in a cave in Iraq, dating to about 12,000 years ago.

Archaeologists and historians agree that the first dogs were essentially tame wolves, attracted to the garbage that early civilizations would throw out. As it became easier for these dogs to get food, they lost their aggression, no longer needing to hunt in order to be fed. In turn, they gradually became the ideal companions. Human beings began to breed dogs to help with hunting, herding, and guarding.

As the structure of society changed and civilizations began to grow crops, cats began to self-domesticate. They would move to crop fields to catch the rodents common on farms. Cats are the only animal to live solitary in the wild, as opposed to living in packs, herds, or flocks. Perhaps this is why the cat never lost, in the human mind, the quality of mystery. Cats had particular pride of place in Ancient Egypt, where they were deemed sacred (Cleopatra is believed to have had a cat of her own). An Egyptian farmer was perusing his farmland in 1888 when he noticed a rather large tomb. It was filled with 80,000 cat mummies.

The difference in the paths to domestication of dogs and cats could explain the difference in their behavior. Dogs tend to be dependent on their owner, whereas cats are often described as more independent, with a mind of their own. The cat has been able to take what it wants from man (food, shelter, play) and to pay its dues in return (pest control), without losing contact with its original identity. Cats have remained closer than other domesticated animals to their wild cousins, partly because it is so difficult to control their breeding. They are more able than any other to fend for themselves if human support is withdrawn.

The debate between "dog people" and "cat people" continues, often to ridiculous lengths. In 2009, a study purported to have determined that the annual carbon footprint of a dog approximated that of a Humvee; the annual carbon footprint of a cat was equivalent to that of a Volkswagen Golf.

  • Cars
  • Communication
  • Culture
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Language
  • Travel
Contracts and Cultures

2022-11-27

ABBA are back

2021-09-03

Happy Dragon Boat Festival

2020-06-25

I Look Up As I Walk

2020-01-31

The Values of Volvo

2020-01-27

German on Both Sides of The Wall

2020-01-24

Today is Macaron Day

2019-03-20

What Can Language Not Do?

2018-12-10

A Star is Born

2018-11-06

Time for a Saab Story

2018-10-23

Andalucia, en Ocho Joyas

2018-08-22

Idioms from Around the World

2018-01-23

Who Misses Skeuomorphism?

2018-01-22

The Wrong Way to Learn a Language

2017-12-05

The Hungarian Language

2017-12-01

Uh-Oh The Glottal Stop

2017-11-16

The Languages of Doctors

2017-10-23

How to Establish a Brand

2017-10-11

The Luxury Experience

2017-09-27

Learning Language is Child's Play

2017-09-20

Language as Jazz

2017-08-25

It's All Polish To Me

2017-08-24

Farsi is Sugar

2017-08-18

76 Common Verbs for Dutch Learners

2017-08-10

So You Want to Learn Hindi?

2017-08-08

Ingrid Bergman on Language

2017-08-07

The Secret to Reading Japanese

2017-08-03

Losing the War One Slide at a Time

2017-08-02

Blowin' in the Wind

2017-07-31

Getting Around

2017-07-28

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie

2017-07-27

Choosing a Language to Learn

2017-07-26

The First Volvo

2017-07-24

Improve Your Public Speaking

2017-07-21

Where Did I Come From?

2017-07-20

Happy Emoji Day

2017-07-17

Czech Out the First Robots

2017-07-14

Mind Your Grammar

2017-07-12

Is this a BMW?

2017-07-10

How Many German Words Do You Know?

2017-06-23

Como agua para chocolate

2017-06-21

Traveling Tips

2017-06-20

I Love Daddy

2017-06-15

We'll Bring the Coffee

2017-06-08

The Challenges of Learning Arabic

2017-06-01

Tulipmania

2017-05-30

Saving Hebrew

2017-05-29

Keeper of the Bridge

2017-05-25

Bewitchingly Flawed

2017-05-18

Japan's Caprice

2017-05-16

The First Martians

2017-05-15

Dolma or Tolma?

2017-05-12

Dutch in Paradise

2017-05-08

How Does the Bilingual Brain Work?

2015-08-19

Reasons to Learn Italian

2015-03-24

Reasons to Learn French

2015-02-27

Truth in Advertising

2014-07-10

Top Quality Spanish Teachers

2013-12-23

A Better Way to Learn Italian

2013-12-23

High Quality Spanish Courses

2013-12-23

Italian School

2013-12-23

Top Quality French Teachers

2013-12-23

Finding the Best Language School

2013-12-23

Italian Tutors

2013-12-23

New Year's Resolution

2012-12-12