How Cats Clawed Their Way Into Our Hearts
That cuddly cat on your lap is an apex predator who can probably survive without you.
There are an estimated 600 million house cats on the planet today. To some people, they are beautiful, almost mystical creatures. To others, they are feline psychopaths responsible for the murder of billions of songbirds each year. In The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World, Abigail Tucker traces our long love affair with—and sometimes hatred of—cats. (Feral cats should be removed from the wild “by any means necessary,” according to some.)
Speaking from her home in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Tucker describes how Egyptian priests were the first to raise domestic cats, why YouTube sensations like Maru demonstrate typical feline behaviors, and how having a cat is one of our few