Tuesday, June 20, 2017

DomestiCATed

DNA recently found at archaeological sites reveals that the origins of domestic cats are in the Near East and ancient Egypt. The DNA analysis also revealed that most of these ancient cats had stripes: spotted cats were uncommon until the Middle Ages, when they became more genetically diverse. They used the DNA from bones, teeth, skin, and hair of over 200 cats found at archaeological sites in the Near East, Africa, and Europe.The DNA analysis revealed that all domesticated cats descend from the African wildcat or Felis silvestris lybica, a wildcat subspecies found in North Africa and the Near East. Today, we have all different kinds of cats and can enjoy their domesticated nature.


KU Leuven. "Ancient DNA reveals role of Near East and Egypt in cat domestication." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 June 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170619125825.htm>.


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3 comments:

  1. UnknownJune 21, 2017 at 5:13 AM

    Interesting! I can't believe that cats have migrated so far from where they were originally found in the middle east. It makes sense why the ancient egyptians worshipped cat like gods. It is also fascinating to see how cats have developed to now have many different breeds and are now domesticated.

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  2. Kelly EganJune 21, 2017 at 9:54 AM

    Just like the 'out of Africa' theory that people talk about for humans, It's easy to assume the same for felines. However that is so false! I watched a documentary explaining the origins of cats. To begin, all cats today can be subdivided into eight categories: Panthera, Bay Cat, Caracal, Ocelot, Lynx, Puma, Leopard Cat, and Domestic Cat. About 10 million years ago, in Asia, the descendants of this early cat split into different branches. One branch turned into the Panthera line, and became Lions, Tigers, Jaguars, Leopards, Snow Leopards and Cloud Leopards. The other branches of cats gave rise to all the other feline species. The descendants remained in their Asian homeland for the next 1.5 million years. During this period the Bay Cat line separated from the others. Around 8.5 million years ago the first cats in the main branch migrated to the New World and Africa. Cats of the Caracal lineage split from the main branch with their migration to Africa, whereas the others took advantage of low sea levels which prevailed from 11 million to 6 million years ago and moved to the Americas across a land bridge. These migrants gave rise to Ocelots, Lynxes and Pumas. Ocelots crossed North America completely and moved into South America by the Panamanian land bridge. So it looks as if cats originated in Asia 10 million years ago and undertook a series of intercontinental migrations that correlated with major fluctuations in sea level. Domestic cats are the youngsters of the cat family, originating around 6.2 million years ago either from ancestors that never left Asia or possibly from North American cats that traveled back across the land bridges. So yes, you are correct when you say that some cats descend from African wildcats, however the statement that "cats come from Africa" is false and seems very similar to how we assume all humans come out of Africa. The simple truth is that cats come from Asia and migrated all around the world. Maybe the same is true for humans...

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  3. UnknownJune 22, 2017 at 6:51 PM

    Not a cat person by any means, but I can still respect a cool cat that doesn't take anything from anybody. Those cats in Egypt definitely were young savages that low key ruled the world.

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