 Cat domesticated mammals:

Cats, (Felis Catus), also called “domestic cat” or “house cat” domesticated
member of the family Felidae, order Carnivora , and the smallest member of
the family. Domestic cats are characterized by supple low-slung bodies, like all
field, long tails that aid in balance and specialized teeth and claws that adapted
them admirably to life of active hunting.

 How Long Have Domesticated Cats Have Been Around?

Did you know that just 70 years ago, few cats lived entirely indoors at all? In
fact, for more than 10,000 years, cats have lived outdoor lives, sharing the
environment with birds and wildlife. Understanding cats’ place in history and
human evolution reveals how very recently domestic cats came indoors and
how millions of this species who we call community cats continue to live healthy
lives outdoors today, as all domestic cats are biologically adapted to do.

 Origin Of the Domestic Cats:

Cats began their relation with humans 10,000 to 12,000 years ago in the fertile
crescent, the geographic region where some of the earliest developments in
human civilization occurred (encompassing modern day parts of West Asia).
Taking advantage of this new, abundant food source, Middle Eastern wildcats,
or felix silvestris lybica, preyed on the rodents and decided to stick around
these early towns, scavenging the garbage that all human societies inevitably
produce just as community cats do today.

 Are Cats Travel the World:

Cats are formed a mutually beneficial relationship with people, and some
scientists argue that cats domesticated themselves. Especially prized as
mousers on ships, cats travelled with people around the globe:
 Cats must have been brought to the island intentionally by humans. A
burial site in Cyprus provides the first archaeological evidence of
humans and cats living side-by-side, as far back as 9,500 years ago.
 In ancient Egypt, cats were worshipped, mummified, and sometimes even
dressed in golden jewellery to indicate the status of their owners.
 cats boarded ships to the Americas, reportedly tagging along with
Christopher Columbus, with the settlers at Jamestown, From Europe.
 In the 1380s, Geoffry Chaucer mentioned a cat door in the Canterbury
Tales.
 Cats are continued their service as mousers throughout history, even
serving as official employees of the United States Postal Service as late
as 19th and early 20th century America.
 Cats were allowed to come and go freely from human household,
Throughout all the time. During 1920s, The Cat Owner’s Manual, writes,
“Back in Coolidge’s day no one thought of confining cats indoors not
even one belonging to the president of the United States.”

 Living Near People:

The first evidence of human stores of grain come from Israel about 10,000
years ago, and it is known that the development of grain stores caused an
accumulation and rise in the population of the house mouse. It is this rise in the
rodent population that is thought to have first attracted wild cats into close
proximity with humans and then led to their subsequent taming. Cats more
tolerant of humans would have been more likely to come close to human
settlements, and this self-selection would have helped in the process of their
taming and domestication.
Archaeological evidence suggests that cats were commonly found in association
with human settlements in the Fertile Crescent (Israel and the surrounding
countries) by 3700 years ago, and they became an ‘official deity’ (in the form of
the goddess Bastet) in Egypt around 2900 years ago. Large numbers of cats
were sacrificed to Bastet and mummified at that time, indicating that the
Egyptians were actively breeding cats. By 2000 years ago there was increasing
evidence of cats spreading throughout Europe.

 Cat Food:
Unlike dogs, who have undergone many physical changes since domestication
and evolved to survive on an omnivorous diet, cats haven’t changed much, and
still require a high-protein diet. Before the development of refrigeration and
canned cat food in the 20th century, feeding indoor cats who could not
supplement their diets by hunting would have been impossible for most
Americans, who could not afford extra fresh meat or fish.

 Evolution and adaptation of Felis Catus:

Co-existence of cats and humans is evident from fossil records from early
human settlements, although these have been assumed to be wild cats. The
development of true domestication (or perhaps more accurately ‘taming’ of
cats) was previously thought to have occurred in Egypt around 3600 years ago.
Skulls of cats found in Egyptian cat burial grounds (called Mau by the
Egyptians) have been identified as mainly being of the species Felis sylvestris
lybica (the African wildcat) (some texts will also classify the African wildcat as
Felis lybica lybica) and it is this wild cat living in Asia and North Africa that is
now thought to have been the major ancestor of the modern-day Felis catus.
However, more recent evidence shows that feline domestication probably
occurred about 10,000 years ago or more in the Middle East, in the region of
the Fertile Crescent. The earliest true record of domestication comes from a cat
that was found deliberately buried with its owner in a grave in Cyprus, some
9500 years ago, and it is assumed that domestication will have begun some time
before this as there were no native cats on Cyprus.

 Modern Cats:
Genetic analysis has demonstrated that the DNA of modern-day domestic cats
throughout the world is almost identical to that of Felis sylvestris lybica, clearly
showing that it is this species that gave rise to our domestic cats. The DNA from
other small cats (including the European Wildcat (Felis sylvetris) and the
Central Asian and Southern African wildcats (F s ornate and F s caffa) form
distinct and unrelated clusters.
The domestic cat was first classified as Felis Catus in 1758 by Carolus
Linnaeus, and although this nomenclature is still the most commonly used,
recent studies suggest that the domestic cat should really be regarded as a sub-
species of the Wildcat – i.e., Felis sylvestris Catus – and this term is used by
some.