The cats on the Tashirojima Island are extremely tame. Such tameness is distinctive; not found in the cats on the mainland. They are not afraid of humans, even approach to tourists.
The cats on the island, however, do not look different from those on the mainland. There are some types of coat color, but they are not specific to the cats on the Tashirojima Island. Moos and gingers found on the island are familiar also on the mainland Japan. Mackerel tabbies are also seen across the state.
Cats of different coats flock together.
Cats on the Tashirojima Island have various coat colors.
Did they evolve to be tame without changing anything in their physical appearances?
According to the experiment of fox domestication undertaken by the Russian zoologist, Dmitry Belyayev in 1950s, the domesticated fox showed unexpected side effects of the selective breeding for tameness. Their foxy prick ears were replaced by doggy floppy ears, and their tails turned up like a dog's. They lost their foxy pelage and became piebald black and white (*1).
So what about cats? Do friendly cats have some specific coat color like domesticated foxes having piebald black and white coats?
In order to investigate the relationship between coat and tameness, we need to evaluate how tame each individual cat is.
One of the ways to evaluate an animal's tameness is to measure how close the animal let a man approach before fleeing. The distance at which it goes away is called flight distance. A risk averse or flighty one fearful of men has a long flight distance. As tameness increases, the flight distance will be shorter.
So, now it's time for us to start research.
The ginger in a hammock allows the researcher to touch him, and is recorded as having zero flight distance.
The flight distance of this solid chocolate is so short that a closed up photo of his paw pads are readily taken.
This rolling tuxedo does not notice the researcher approaching and is recorded as a zero flight distance owner.
This blue cat as well does not flee, having zero flight distance.
Some cats are absorbed in grooming themselves, paying no attention to the researcher approaching.
This long haired cat stays still while the researcher reaches out.
Here is the result.
Flight distance of cats in Nitoda area (*2)
There are three major coat types; brown mackerel tabby, moo, chocolate solid. The result shows that there are certainly a lot of moo cats having short flight distance, but are also many solid chocolates and brown mackerel tabbies who have zero flight distances.
It seems likely that there is no specific coat color which represents tameness.
So, what about hair length?
Flight distance of cats in Nitoda area
There is no remarkable difference in flight distances also between long hair and short hair. These statistics say nothing about the relationship between breed and tameness, but it evidently says that the cats in Nitoda are in a state of purrfect zero flight distance.
The statistics will make more sense when it is compared with that in another village, Odomari.
Flight distance of cats in Odomari area
It is likely that the tameness of a cat depends more on where it lives than what coat it wears.
Looking into the detail of the Odomari data, we see the shortest flight distance of one meter, that is recorded by a rotund bobtail. While other cats quickly go away, he lingers in front of the researcher and reluctantly starts to flee. It is plausible that he is lacking in what we, cat island explorers, call "agility".
Is the rotund bobtail friendly or just fat?
Now, it is not difficult for us to come up with a hypothesis that, the fatter a cat is, the tamer it is, since it has a shorter flight distance(*3).
(*1) "The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution", Richard Dawkins, 2009 Free Press,Transworld
(*2) More precisely, most or all of the chocolate solids are black headed. Tuxedos are not pitch black but chocolate. They may be genetically not chocolate (ww oo bb D-) but black (ww oo B- D-), influenced by some factors that could affect the melanin.
The cats on the island, however, do not look different from those on the mainland. There are some types of coat color, but they are not specific to the cats on the Tashirojima Island. Moos and gingers found on the island are familiar also on the mainland Japan. Mackerel tabbies are also seen across the state.
Cats of different coats flock together.
Cats on the Tashirojima Island have various coat colors.
Did they evolve to be tame without changing anything in their physical appearances?
According to the experiment of fox domestication undertaken by the Russian zoologist, Dmitry Belyayev in 1950s, the domesticated fox showed unexpected side effects of the selective breeding for tameness. Their foxy prick ears were replaced by doggy floppy ears, and their tails turned up like a dog's. They lost their foxy pelage and became piebald black and white (*1).
So what about cats? Do friendly cats have some specific coat color like domesticated foxes having piebald black and white coats?
In order to investigate the relationship between coat and tameness, we need to evaluate how tame each individual cat is.
One of the ways to evaluate an animal's tameness is to measure how close the animal let a man approach before fleeing. The distance at which it goes away is called flight distance. A risk averse or flighty one fearful of men has a long flight distance. As tameness increases, the flight distance will be shorter.
So, now it's time for us to start research.
The ginger in a hammock allows the researcher to touch him, and is recorded as having zero flight distance.
The flight distance of this solid chocolate is so short that a closed up photo of his paw pads are readily taken.
This rolling tuxedo does not notice the researcher approaching and is recorded as a zero flight distance owner.
This blue cat as well does not flee, having zero flight distance.
Some cats are absorbed in grooming themselves, paying no attention to the researcher approaching.
This long haired cat stays still while the researcher reaches out.
Here is the result.
Flight distance of cats in Nitoda area (*2)
There are three major coat types; brown mackerel tabby, moo, chocolate solid. The result shows that there are certainly a lot of moo cats having short flight distance, but are also many solid chocolates and brown mackerel tabbies who have zero flight distances.
It seems likely that there is no specific coat color which represents tameness.
So, what about hair length?
Flight distance of cats in Nitoda area
There is no remarkable difference in flight distances also between long hair and short hair. These statistics say nothing about the relationship between breed and tameness, but it evidently says that the cats in Nitoda are in a state of purrfect zero flight distance.
The statistics will make more sense when it is compared with that in another village, Odomari.
Flight distance of cats in Odomari area
It is likely that the tameness of a cat depends more on where it lives than what coat it wears.
Looking into the detail of the Odomari data, we see the shortest flight distance of one meter, that is recorded by a rotund bobtail. While other cats quickly go away, he lingers in front of the researcher and reluctantly starts to flee. It is plausible that he is lacking in what we, cat island explorers, call "agility".
Is the rotund bobtail friendly or just fat?
Now, it is not difficult for us to come up with a hypothesis that, the fatter a cat is, the tamer it is, since it has a shorter flight distance(*3).
(*1) "The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution", Richard Dawkins, 2009 Free Press,Transworld
(*2) More precisely, most or all of the chocolate solids are black headed. Tuxedos are not pitch black but chocolate. They may be genetically not chocolate (ww oo bb D-) but black (ww oo B- D-), influenced by some factors that could affect the melanin.
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