Cats Were Domesticated in Near East.
Cat domestication likely initiated as a symbiotic relationship between wildcats and the peoples of developing agrarian societies. As humans transitioned from hunter-gatherers to farmers around 12000 years ago, bold wildcats likely capitalized on increased prey density, i.e., rodents.
The domestication and the geographical origins of the household cat (Felis silvestris catus) have been partially reconstructed from archaeological discoveries, cultural and artistic depictions, and genetics evaluations of ancient and modern felids.
The cat’s domestication process likely initiated around 12000 years ago in the crescent-shaped region that spans the modern-day countries of Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and, for some scholars, Egypt — with the initial contact between the African wildcat and farmers.
The advent of agriculture altered human culture from nomadic hunter-gatherers to more sedentary lifestyles, leading to the establishment of increasingly larger settlements.
Grain stores attracted mice, which led to a synanthropic trinity between humans, rodents, and felids.
To refine the site of cat domestication, University of Missouri’s Professor Leslie Lyons and his colleagues collected and analyzed DNA from cats in and around the Fertile Crescent area, as well as throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, comparing nearly 200 different genetic markers.
“One of the DNA main markers we studied were microsatellites, which mutate very quickly and give us clues about recent cat populations and breed developments over the past few hundred years,” Professor Lyons said.
While horses and cattle have seen various domestication events caused by humans in different parts of the world at various times, the analysis of feline genetics strongly supports the theory that cats were likely first domesticated only in the Fertile Crescent before migrating with humans all over the world.
“After feline genes are passed down to kittens throughout generations, the genetic makeup of cats in western Europe, for example, is now far different from cats in southeast Asia, a process known as isolation by distance.”
“We can actually refer to cats as semi-domesticated, because if we turned them loose into the wild, they would likely still hunt vermin and be able to survive and mate on their own due to their natural behaviors.”
Unlike dogs and other domesticated animals, humans haven’t really changed the behaviors of cats that much during the domestication process, so cats once again prove to be a special animal.