About Cats |
HISTORY & DOMESTICATION
The modern-day housecat is a relatively new species that started to become domesticated about 10,000 years ago. The dog, in comparison has been living in close association with humans almost three times longer, having become domesticated around 30,000 years ago.
Housecats (Felis catus) are believed to have evolved from the Middle Eastern Wildcat (Felis sylvestris). It is now commonly believed that the cat actually domesticated itself, finding a ready source of food (rodents) around the early agricultural settlements.
Early farmers, who began to store grain after harvests, likely saw the utility of having these astute hunters around to control the vermin population and, thus a beautiful symbiotic relationship was born. The more friendly and tame felines were encouraged by farmers to hang around the settlements and, through the process of natural selection, cats became more comfortable with humans, eventually finding their way into people’s homes and hearts.
Recent studies of the genetic composition of the modern-day housecat and its wildcat ancestor show that housecats have changed very little during the process of domestication. Perhaps this is so because humans used cats for their natural talent in rodent control and did not apply artificial selection pressure (or selective breeding) to change the genetics of the housecat. It was not until the 19th century that cat fanciers began selecting cats for particular traits, which has led to the 70 or so breeds of domestic cat that we have today.