Domestic Cat

Lore & Background

The domestication of the cat started in the Near East around 7500 BCE, as shown by advances in archaeology and genetics. The earliest known indication for the taming of an African wildcat was excavated close by a human Neolithic grave in Shillourokambos, southern Cyprus, dating to about 7500–7200 BCE. Since there is no evidence of native mammalian fauna on Cyprus, the inhabitants most likely brought the cat and other wild mammals to the island from the West Asian mainland. Scientists assume that African wildcats were attracted to early human settlements in the Fertile Crescent by rodents, in particular the house mouse (Mus musculus), and were tamed by Neolithic farmers. This mutual relationship lasted thousands of years. Wildcats of Egypt contributed to the maternal gene pool of the domestic cat at a later time. The earliest known evidence for the domestic cat in Greece dates to around 1200 BCE. Greek, Phoenician, Carthaginian and Etruscan traders introduced it to southern Europe. By the 5th century BCE, it was a familiar animal around settlements in Magna Graecia and Etruria. During the Roman Empire, it was introduced to Corsica and Sardinia. By the end of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, the Egyptian domestic cat lineage had arrived in a Baltic Sea port in northern Germany. The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) was tamed independently in China around 5500 BCE, but this line left no trace in domestic cat populations today.

In Their Own Story

A male cat is called a tom, tommy or tomcat (or a gib, if neutered). A female is called a queen (or sometimes a molly, if spayed). Some sources write that queen refers solely to unspayed cats that are in an estrous cycle. A juvenile cat is referred to as a kitten (also shortened to kitty), a term interchangeable with the now-obsolete word catling in Early Modern English. A group of cats can be referred to as a clowder, a glaring, or a colony. The domestic cat has a smaller skull and shorter bones than the European wildcat. It averages about 46 cm (18 in) in head-to-body length and 23–25 cm (9.1–9.8 in) in height, with about 30 cm (12 in) long tails. Males are larger than females. Adult domestic cats typically weigh 4–5 kg (8.8–11.0 lb).

Reader's Guide

Domestic cats communicate using meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling, grunting, body language, and scent marking. They can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by small mammals. They secrete and perceive pheromones. Cat intelligence is evident in its ability to adapt, learn through observation, and solve problems. Out of the estimated 600 million domestic cats worldwide, 400 million reside in Asia, including 58 million in China. About 73.8 million cats are estimated to live in the United States, and about 10.9 million cats in the United Kingdom. It also ranges freely as a feral cat, avoiding human contact. Pet abandonment contributes to increasing of the global feral cat population, which has driven the decline of bird, mammal, and reptile species. Population control includes spaying and neutering.

Did You Know?

• The domestic cat is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae.
• Domestication of the cat started in the Near East around 7500 BCE.
• The earliest known indication for taming an African wildcat was found in a human Neolithic grave in Shillourokambos, Cyprus, dating to about 7500–7200 BCE.
• A male cat is called a tom, tommy or tomcat (or a gib, if neutered); a female is called a queen (or sometimes a molly, if spayed).
• Out of an estimated 600 million domestic cats worldwide, 400 million reside in Asia, including 58 million in China.