On May 27th, 1941, the German battleship
Bismarck sank in a fierce firefight, leaving only 118 of her
2,200 crew members alive. But when a British destroyer came to
collect the prisoners, they found an unexpected survivor – a black and white
cat clinging to a floating plank. For the next several months this cat
hunted rats and raised British morale – until a sudden torpedo strike shattered
the hull and sank the ship. But, miraculously, not the cat. Nicknamed Unsinkable Sam, he rode to Gibraltar with the rescued crew and served as a ship cat on three more vessels – one of which also sank – before
retiring to the Belfast Home for Sailors. Many may not think of cats as serviceable
sailors, or cooperative companions
of any kind. But cats have been working alongside
humans for thousands of years – helping us just as often as we help them. So how did these solitary creatures go
from wild predator to naval officer to sofa sidekick? The domestication of the modern house cat can be traced back to more than
10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, at the start of the Neolithic era. People were learning to bend nature
to their will, producing much more food than
farmers could eat at one time. These Neolithic farmers stored their excess
grain in large pits and short, clay silos. But these stores of food attracted
hordes of rodents, as well as their predator,
Felis silvestris lybica – the wildcat found across North Africa
and Southwest Asia. These wildcats were fast, fierce,
carnivorous hunters. And they were remarkably similar in size
and appearance to today’s domestic cats. The main differences being that ancient
wildcats were more muscular, had striped coats, and were less social
towards other cats and humans. The abundance of prey in rodent-infested
granaries drew in these typically solitary animals. And as the wildcats learned to tolerate the
presence of humans and other cats during mealtime, we think that farmers likewise tolerated
the cats in exchange for free pest control. The relationship was so beneficial that
the cats migrated with Neolithic farmers from Anatolia into Europe
and the Mediterranean. Vermin were a major
scourge of the seven seas. They ate provisions and
gnawed at lines of rope, so cats had long since become
essential sailing companions. Around the same time these Anatolian
globe trotting cats set sail, the Egyptians domesticated
their own local cats. Revered for their ability to dispatch
venomous snakes, catch birds, and kill rats, domestic cats became important
to Egyptian religious culture. They gained immortality in frescos,
hieroglyphs, statues, and even tombs, mummified alongside their owners. Egyptian ship cats cruised the Nile, holding poisonous river snakes at bay. And after graduating to larger vessels, they too began to migrate
from port to port. During the time of the Roman Empire,
ships traveling between India and Egypt carried the lineage of the
central Asian wildcat F. s. ornata. Centuries later, in the Middle Ages,
Egyptian cats voyaged up to the Baltic Sea on the ships of Viking seafarers. And both the Near Eastern
and North African wildcats – probably tamed at this point —
continued to travel across Europe, eventually setting sail for
Australia and the Americas. Today, most house cats have descended from either the Near Eastern
or the Egyptian lineage of F.s.lybica. But close analysis of the genomes and
coat patterns of modern cats tells us that unlike dogs, which have undergone
centuries of selective breeding, modern cats are genetically
very similar to ancient cats. And apart from making them
more social and docile, we’ve done little to alter
their natural behaviors. In other words, cats today are more or
less as they’ve always been: Wild animals. Fierce hunters. Creatures that don’t
see us as their keepers. And given our long history together,
they might not be wrong.
I don’t want a history lesson, I wanna see narcissistic cats telling us how great they are and we are all their slaves.
On meow meow memeo meow
One time I embarrassed my cat
Me and my sis where petting her on a chair and she was rolling over and stuff when she fell of the chair, hissed at us and ran away lol 🙂 she's now a 12 year old kitty who spends her days siting on our back porch chairs sleeping and begging us for pets. She probly thinks she is our owner honestly
Cats are so loyal!
I LOOOOVE THIS. THNQ. SENDING.
I just watch these videos due to the animations
I had a cat that brought me enough kill to feed me, Rabbits, squirrels, and birds mostly. There were days he would bring 4 or 5 rabbits that were as big as he was and leave them on the mat outside my back door.
It's another reason cats live longer than dogs because we left their genes to do the talking, not us. Dogs have a lot of health issues because we have given them a lot of gene changes
Very nice to know! When I was a child, I also read a book which told how twice as many Europeans would have died during the plagues of the 14th and 15th centuries had it not been for the cats who ate the rodents. Who knows, millions of us may owe our existence to them and their work.
If you love cats spay and neuter.
My cat who is quite chunky screams for food and drags his food and water dishes around the house, one night he did it at 2am and I legitimately thought someone was breaking into our house. So I definitely agree that cats have not forgotten that they were worshiped like gods.
Wonderful animation!
1:32 wth? DID HE JUST SNATCH THE FOOD? 😂
Cats used to only meow when they were kittens. But then they realized that babies were stealing the attention. So what they did is started meowing at the pitch that babies cry. I must be a sociopath because I'm not going to feed you until j wake up it's 3 in the morning for God's sake
I like the animation
The godamn meow sound effect and comedic timing is one of the best parts of the video.
This video made me seasick
WhY Do ThE RaTs WaLk LiKE ThAt
I love that they used a Terry pratchett quote in the beginning
The history of the world according g to Ted-Ed.
Plot twist Sam sank the ships
1:50 "more muscular" we need to talk about this cat
Cat is the God, it can end the Earth by just pushing it into a deep gravity well.
Bending nature to our will is the cause of our demise.
0:24 my cat every night at bedtime demanding to be fed
Great video! Thx😁🐱
Roided cats
Hooomaaans…..we will allow you to worship us….you may clap now….
dogs: these people are feeding me. they must be gods
cats: these people are feeding me. I must be their god
Soldier cat
I love my 2 furry little murder machines. Cats>dogs = FACT
Cats are killing machines
3:35 If I fits, I sits
Those mice were having such a good time I kind of felt sorry for them.
This animation is so funny n interesting please make more of these
I expected meowing sound throughout the whole video with human translation.
Bismarck
Named after Otton Van Bismarck
HER
CATS ARE SO CUTE!!!
@3:34
Even if I don't fits, I sits
meoow
We worship cats now more than ever through the internet.
Wow. I'm loved by a wild animal.
The greatest question of my life has been answered.
I didn’t understand anything from that British accent😱
I thought this would be our world's history from a cat's point of view, but then again I guess that wouldn't be very interesting.
World War II is going on, and all cats are thinking is, "Ugh. Humans making a lot of noise outside. Wish they'd shut up and let me sleep."
I cant help but laugh every time that "cat" meows😂😂😂😂
I love this!
f o o d
I love my cat
She comes when we call her and she doesn’t want to be alone, and she is fine with being hugged and being pet
She loves to eat and she manages to trick us into feeding her
She doesn’t know how to hunt.
She knows how to do tricks.
Wait. Am I taking care of a dog..?
LOL
MREOW
I'd love to worship cats
I just saw a post in 9gag; "unsinkable sam"
6 hours later
gets recommended by this video
Me: visible coincidence
Interesting topic. Boring voice.
MEOW
Aaaaaand then I watch my own squishy bellied fluff ball who thinks he's the youngest child of the family and gets ME to get the rodents.🤷♀️🤦♀️
Or he leaves whatever he's caught to have his 'proper' din dins, usually that thing he's caught is well and truly alive and placed upon my foot. NOT impressive Mr.
And they say they have a wild side HA!!!!
Can we get sub titles for the cats
I don’t see any reason why cats are loved-I mean attachment love like humans are really close with them and treat them like human children. If cats just use us as a way to get pampered and free food they don’t seem to deserve love. The same goes for cats too I’m sure they just tolerate us but will never like or love us back in any way because they don’t need to.
nobody:
TedEd: tHe hIsToRy oF tHe woRlD aCcORdIng tO cAtS
Makes sense to have cars in ships considering the amount of rodents they have.
1:00 What is this music?
a cat is a tiny tiger that lives in your house
I ❤ Dubrovnik!
I like how someone took the time to put this on the internet
Catsssss are the bestttt
Yes, I firmly confirm that we British do bring teas and biscuits in sailing.
You finally got my click, finally.
Her voice sound like Garnet in Steven Universe
Damn, Sam. 😲
Dogs have masters and cats have slaves.
I love cats.
That's the thing though, I don't think domestic cats were ever indoor cats until recently, so with all these owners who are afraid to let their cats outside… it could bring on a change that will effect future breeds of indoor cats. I'm happy I let mine outside, but it's not like I'm breeding them, they're neutered, so their genes won't be contributing to thfuture breeds, which is a real shame because they're very obidient for a cat, almost like a dog, and they're very good hunters.
Love when cat pushes cup off table while looking right at us.
Just remember there was a guy who sat in a recording booth meowing for probably too long for this piece.
Meow.. Meow.. Meow… *narrated in meow language
Dissapointed, more actual cat and less history cause do cats know history? Nope
All the cat people in one wholesome YouTube comment section 🙂
This is all fake you made it up they dont worship cats
There called domestic cats not cat whats wrong with your spelling Egypt people dont worship cats they worship domestic cats
And Now Cats Rule The Internet
Humanity has been wordhipping Cats for thousands of years.
therapist: muscular cat dosent exist, it cant hurt you.
muscular cat: 2:03
Best animation ever so cute
The African wildcat still exists, Ted-ed. And it's more aggressive.
Therapist: Muscle cat isn't real, he can't hurt you
Muscle cat: 1:57
Dogs have owners. Cat have slaves.
2:17 who put i love dubrovnik on that pot? Dubrovnik is a croatian town btw
That's still not according to cats, that's according to some chick.
How tf did that sailor cat not get ptsd
Not once did she called them
Lazy cats or lazy animals
The whole video is great but Unsinkable Sam is my favorite part.
At 0:57 On Unsinkable Sam's collar "-oscar- sam
Meow!!
So, is it right to keep cats indoor since they are still wild?
I live history and I have always had a fascination with cats so this is brilliant 😍😍😍
Confirm that you have green eyes and then ask the cat to leave
muscular cat leggs have entered the chat
I watched this with my cat lul
We did it boys… The world is no more
This is the history of cats according to humans.
I expected a view from the cats perspective, like they are being enslaved to serve on ships and so on.