Fully black cats practically do not exist - each of them has at least a small white spot. Of course, someone could meet a person perfectly black, but such cases are very rare. People have long noticed this phenomenon and, having spent parallels with historical events, found out the reason for the small number of black cats. Animals with dark wool began to disappear during the days of the Middle Ages, when people were very much afraid of evil spirits, and at the end generally began to burn witches on the bonfires. As part of this article, we will find out why people have long been afraid of black cats and what happened to them hundreds of years ago. It is important to note that at the same time the cat literally saved thousands of human lives and since then they began to relate much better. The history of the relationship of people and cats is a rather interesting topic, so let's start without long preludes.
Why are people afraid of black cats?
Animals of black color have long been associated with something bad. For example, from very long time, black cats and crows are depicted as witches satellites. In most peoples, it is believed that the Black Cat has suffered the road is the harbinger of failures throughout their subsequent life or the near future. This superstition does not depend on the animal breed, if black wool is all, it is unfortunately.
However, some nations still love black cats. In the UK and Scotland, they are considered a symbol of good luck. If the black cat runs into the apartment is to wealth and prosperity. And if such an animal lives in a woman, it will be very popular in men.
Do you know why we believe in the supernatural? There is a response.
Black cats in the Middle Ages
Black cats were associated with witch, and they were very afraid of them in the Middle Ages. Few glory spread throughout Europe, but some people contained cats as pets, because they caught mice. Despite explicit benefit, at the beginning of the XIII century, Pope Gregory IX announced that black cats are "the creations of the devil." After this statement on cats began hunting and they were exterminated in very large quantities.
Cruelty to innocent animals turned into a big grief. Because of the small number of cats, the population of rats that were active carriers of the bubonic plague increased in Europe. Realizing that cats can stop the spread of a terrible disease, people stopped their extermination. Yes, and they did not have time for further hunt, because everyone worried only how to hide from the disease. So the number of cats in nature began to grow again.
See also: Why are cats run at night?
Why is black cats little?
Scientists believe that cats perfectly black disappeared just because of their mass extermination in the Middle Ages. Single women with black cats immediately suspected of witchcraft and burned on fires along with their animals. And even superstition that cats bring good luck, badly affected their populations. In the walls of some houses, closed animals closed alive were sometimes found. It was believed that the animals killed in this way bring good luck. Strange, brutally and low, but those were superstitions in the Middle Ages. Since people especially did not like cats perfectly black, there were few them and they gave less offspring. And that is why black cats are born today have at least one white spot - the perfect black color is not in cats at the genetic level.
It is also believed that cats have at least some white wool because it is necessary for the possibility of communication with other individuals. In his article in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, Brazilian scientists noticed that many cats serve each other signals with white spots on the ears. And if there are no white spots - they lose the opportunity to report scare or readiness for the attack. It greatly complicates the life of cats, especially in the wild environment. So, the need for signals can also be the cause of the few black cats.
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