Where Do Cats Come From? How Long Have They Been With Us?

Cats have gradually supplanted dogs when it comes to pet choice. Felines are those mysterious creatures that subtly manage to mix their wild hunter character with a domestic affection dedicated to their owners and to all those they feel like. This bivalent character has to do with a couple of situations related to where cats come from and, above all, how much they accompany us.

Some data

Like all pets, cats are also born as wild animals. According to genetic studies, some scientists have managed to respond to some of the concerns that these animals have been stimulating for centuries. Among other things, it has been determined that the felines “self-tamed”. Contrary to all other domestic animals (horses, cows, pigs or the dogs themselves) cats acquired this state as humans became sedentary. Thanks to agriculture that brought with it the harvest of wheat, and with it a great proliferation of rodents, the cats approached the cities to hunt and eat mice. The farmers of the time tolerated this proximity as it represented a measure to reduce the spread of plagues.

According to a recent census, there are approximately 600 million domestic cats spread over all five continents worldwide. But where did the first cats get domesticated? Which people were the first to use them as pets?

The first specimens

There is genetic and archaeological evidence that establishes that the first domestic cats were born in the historic fertile region in the Middle East also known as the fertile crescent. The signs were collected in Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon. Everyone knows the reverence with which cats were treated in ancient Egypt, where huge quantities of papyri and hieroglyphs that show scenes from the daily life of this civilization, present numerous scenes in which cats are the protagonists. Among the deities revered at the time there was also Bast, the goddess of family and fertility, represented with the head of a cat.

In 1983, the jaw of a cat was found on the island of Cyprus, dating back to 8,000 years ago. It can be deduced that cats arrived on the island on ships, so their domestication must be much older. In fact, in 2004 another archaeological site was found containing specimens of felines, previous in this case by another 1500 years.

All domestic cats descend from the wild cat, Felis sylvestris (which literally means “cat of the woods”), and apparently the first descendants to have friendly relations with humans date back to 12 thousand years ago. These dates coincide with the earliest human agricultural settlements, which gave rise to the thesis as to why felines approached humans.

From this region the cats spread through Asia and Europe up to America and Australia : they were embarked on ships to eliminate the rodents on board. Once they landed, it was only a matter of time before the cats began to dominate the territory. Just as man stepped forward and gained ground, so did these extraordinary felines.

Despite the bad reputation that was unfairly given to these creatures in the Middle Ages, it is a species that has managed to adapt perfectly to man. Being such an amazing animal, it is no wonder that it causes fear due to its individualism and physical abilities. Just imagine what people thought five hundred years ago, when after seeing a cat in a room, they found it shortly after on the top of a tree or on a wall three meters above the ground, as if it had magically moved, almost flying.

For these reasons, cats still retain their primitive characteristics today. Unlike dogs, which were domesticated by humans, felines chose us of their own free will as givers of food and affection. Perhaps, knowing the origins of society, we could come to understand why our cats behave in these certain ways. We must not forget that it was they, not us, who established the first contact and rapprochement, and for this reason it is they who dictate the law regarding relationships with humans.