How Domestic Cats Originated From a Single Wildcat Species Over 10,000 Years Ago

Famous cat expert Jackson Galaxy recounts the long history of domestic cats, noting that felines around the world (Western, Exotic, and Eastern) originate with a single species from over 10,000 years ago – the Near Eastern Wildcat.

What’s really important is if you think about 130 000 years ago, the Near eastern wildcat is the most populous of cats concentrated in the Fertile Crescent…here’s the most incredible thing a 2009 genetics study showed that all of our cats …are descended from that Near Eastern wildcat.

Galaxy further explains that it is the features of this original cat that led to the current day feline relationship with humans.

That’s pretty crucial one of the things that made the species Felis so wildly successful was that as they evolved they evolved to be one of nature’s most perfect hunters this is what sets the stage for that human-animal mutually beneficial relationship.

He also addresses the various eras in which cats were in public favor, the “dark” times, how cats came to the US, and how they became domesticated, particularly in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

Here we start to imagine what it is for a cat to be a pet cats were primarily workers, whether they be on ships or farms or anywhere like that. Where food supplies were threatened, there were cats. There came a point where they started to turn in their relationship with humans and become more “domesticated”.