page_title: Cat
section_title: Domestication
hierarchical_section_title: Cat / Evolution / Domestication
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Katze unter Nachts Sitz English: A cat eating a fish under a table
context_page_description: The cat is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is often referred to as the domestic cat to distinguish it from the wild members of the family. A cat can either be a house cat, a farm cat or a feral cat; the latter ranges freely and avoids human contact. Domestic cats are valued by humans for companionship and their ability to hunt rodents. About 60 cat breeds are recognized by various cat registries.
  The cat is similar in anatomy to the other felid species: it has a strong flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp teeth and retractable claws adapted to killing small prey. Its night vision and sense of smell are well developed. Cat communication includes vocalizations like meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling and grunting as well as cat-specific body language. It is a solitary hunter but a social species. It can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by mice and other small mammals. It is a predator that is most active at dawn and dusk. It secretes and perceives pheromones.
context_section_description: The earliest known indication for the taming of an African wildcat (F. lybica) was excavated close by a human Neolithic  grave in Shillourokambos, southern Cyprus, dating to about 9,200 to 9,500 years before present. Since there is no evidence of native mammalian fauna on Cyprus, the inhabitants of this Neolithic village most likely brought the cat and other wild mammals to the island from the Middle Eastern mainland. Scientists therefore 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 commensal relationship between early farmers and tamed cats lasted thousands of years. As agricultural practices spread, so did tame and domesticated cats. Wildcats of Egypt contributed to the maternal gene pool of the domestic cat at a later time.
  The earliest known evidence for the occurrence of the domestic cat in Greece dates to around 1200 BCE. Greek, Phoenician, Carthaginian and Etruscan traders introduced domestic cats to southern Europe.
  During the Roman Empire they were introduced to Corsica and Sardinia before the beginning of the 1st millennium.
  By the 5th century BCE, they were familiar animals around settlements in Magna Graecia and Etruria.
  By the end of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, the Egyptian domestic cat lineage had arrived in a Baltic Sea port in northern Germany.
  During domestication, cats have undergone only minor changes in anatomy and behavior, and they are still capable of surviving in the wild. Several natural behaviors and characteristics of wildcats may have pre-adapted them for domestication as pets. These traits include their small size, social nature, obvious body language, love of play and relatively high intelligence. Captive Leopardus cats may also display affectionate behavior toward humans, but were not domesticated. House cats often mate with feral cats, producing hybrids such as the Kellas cat in Scotland. Hybridisation between domestic and other Felinae species is also possible.
  Development of cat breeds started in the mid 19th century.
  An analysis of the domestic cat genome revealed that the ancestral wildcat genome was significantly altered in the process of domestication, as specific mutations were selected to develop cat breeds. Most breeds are founded on random-bred domestic cats. Genetic diversity of these breeds varies between regions, and is lowest in purebred populations, which show more than 20 deleterious genetic disorders.
caption: A cat eating a fish under a chair, a mural in an Egyptian tomb dating to the 15th century BCE
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