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They were revered in ancient Egypt and are doted on in countries around world. Now a study has revealed the domestic cat is descended from a wildcat that lived in the Middle East thousands of years ago.
Scientists have traced the ancestry of all domestic cats alive today to five female Near Eastern wildcats in the fertile crescent region of what is now Iraq and Syria.
A genetic study of feline DNA shows that cats were domesticated from their wild cousins much earlier than previously believed and that humans must have transported them around the world from their Middle Eastern homeland.
The study analysed the DNA of nearly 1000 cats - domestic and wild - from countries as far apart as China and Scotland in an attempt to identify the closest living relatives of the pet cat, Felis silvestris catus.
Professor David Macdonald, director of the Wildlife Conservation Unit at Oxford University, said one of the most important findings was the discovery that domestic cats have a much older history than previously supposed.
"Whatever the future holds," he said, "the domestication of the cat to complement human civilisation stands out as one of the most successful biological experiments ever undertaken."
- Independent
