In true cat fashion, felines took their sweet time in choosing when and where to establish connections with humans.
Recent scientific findings reveal that the transition from wild predators to cherished companions occurred much more recently than earlier assumptions indicated, and in a different location.
An examination of skeletal remains discovered at ancient sites indicates that cats began forming a close relationship with humans just a few thousand years ago, particularly in northern Africa rather than the Levant.
“They are everywhere; we create television shows about them, and they dominate the internet,” noted a professor from the University of Oxford.
“The bond we share with cats only initiated roughly 3,500 or 4,000 years ago, rather than 10,000 years ago.”
All contemporary cats trace their lineage back to a single ancestor—the African wildcat.
The timeline and location of their domestication and the development of their relationship with humans has been a long-standing enigma for researchers.
To unravel this mystery, scientists scrutinized DNA extracted from cat bones found at archaeological locations throughout Europe, North Africa, and Anatolia.
They dated the remains, examined the genetic material, and compared it with the genetic makeup of today’s domestic cats.
New Insights on Cat Domestication
The latest evidence suggests that the domestication of cats did not occur at the onset of agriculture in the Levant, as previously thought.
Instead, it seems to have taken place several millennia later in a region in northern Africa.
“This did not happen in the area where humans first adopted agriculture; it appears to be much more associated with Egyptian culture,” explained the professor.
This aligns with established knowledge about ancient Egypt, a civilization that revered cats, depicting them in artwork and mummifying them.
Once cats became linked to humans, they were transported worldwide, valued for their role as ship cats and pest controllers.
Cats reached Europe approximately 2,000 years ago, much later than was once believed.
They accompanied the Romans throughout Europe and eventually made their way east along the Silk Road into China.
The Unexpected Wild Companions
Currently, they inhabit every corner of the globe, with the exception of Antarctica.
Interestingly, scientists uncovered that a wild species coexisted with humans in China long before domestic cats emerged.
This earlier wild feline included leopard cats, which are small spotted wild cats that lived in human communities in China for around 3,500 years.
“The early bond between humans and leopard cats was largely commensal, where both species lived alongside one another without harm,” stated a professor from Peking University in Beijing.
“Leopard cats thrived in close proximity to humans, while people were largely unaffected or even welcomed them for their role as natural pest controllers.”
Leopard cats did not end up being domesticated and continue to live in the wild across Asia.
Interestingly, leopard cats have recently been bred with domestic cats to create Bengal cats, which were acknowledged as a distinct breed in the 1980s.
The findings were published in well-regarded journals.
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