Some of my best friends

And now, a little article about some of my best friends...
Felis catus would be its taxonomic nomenclature, an endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature...

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What can I say? So far, I haven’t met a cat I didn’t like.

Research was conducted into the origin of domestic cats, including DNA comparison with known subspecies of wildcats worldwide. Five genetic lineages were revealed, but only one, Felis silvestris lybica, included the domestic cat. This species is found mainly in the Middle East, including remote deserts of Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, locations where the wild representatives of this subspecies were collected for the study. This means domestic cats originally came from only that area of the world.

So, Felis catus or Felis silvestris lybica? Is there still a reason to distinguish between the two?

In that region called the Fertile Crescent, cats came to live among humans to feast upon scraps as well as those smaller animals that raid gardens and harvests. Cats cause little damage and even kill off vermin. Once this was realised, humans may even have encouraged them to stick around. If we add the “cuteness” factor, like large eyes, a snub face and a forehead that is high and round, it doesn’t take much to imagine our distant ancestors taking in kittens simply because their faces were irresistible.

Can we know when they were first domesticated? The archaeological record can give us hints. The grave of an adult person who lived on the island of Cyprus, 9,500 years ago was discovered to include the corpse of an eight-month-old cat, its body oriented westward, the same as for the dead human. Since cats are not native to Cyprus, they must have been brought over by boat. The cat’s presence in the grave shows that humans and cats already had a special relationship by at least 9,500 years ago, probably more. Since humans began establishing permanent settlements in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, the cat must have been in the process of being tamed at about the same time.

Why did this species become the sole domestic species the world over when others, notably the Southern African and Central Asian wildcats, might be just as easily tamed? It’s thought the domestic cats simply followed the patterns of civilisation and exploration from the Middle East outward. As other civilisations established themselves, Felis silvestris lybica arrived, either on the heels of explorers or as trade goods themselves, and was already there to integrate itself into new human habitats, effectively denying a similar chance to local subspecies.

Most domesticated animals are either livestock or were made to work for us somehow. The cat is perhaps the only one to have been adopted in Neolithic times for its cuteness factor.