Where Do Cats Come From ? Here Is The Explanation !

Cats are animals with large populations in various parts of the world. Cats are usually free to be strayed in the community and made as pets. Before cats became domestic animals in certain countries and were kept as pets, have you ever thought about where did the cat actually come from ?

Maybe we've thought about things like this, but now it's time to think of looking for answers to these questions. To answer the curiosity caused by the question of where the cat came from, where did the original cat come from and the like, you can read to explanation in Angora's writing below.

Where Do Cats Come From ?

Quoted from nationalgeographic that in fact the origin of the cat, whether it's a pet cat or a domestic cat, is from the Near East and Ancient Egypt. 10,000 years in the past, cats were domesticated by farmers and then cats spread from the center of the Egyptian trade to all over the world, including Europe.

Where Is The Near East ?

Near East refers to the Levan or Syria, Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau. This term is commonly used by historians and archaeologists to designate the area. The area also actually has another alternative term, namely southwest Asia, it's just that this term is rarely used by archaeologists or historians.

History Of The Spread Of Cats

Based on DNA research, it was found that most of the ancient cats had stripes. Not only that, research has also found that cats with spotted patterns are a rare existence or rarely found until entering the Middle Ages.

So far, only 5 subspecies of the felis silvestris feral cat whose skeletons have been found. And the whole skeleton of these cats is so exact that it can't be distinguished from the domestic cats that exist today. This results in the difficulty of identifying with the naked eye which cats were domesticated farmers in ancient times.

Paleogeneticist Claudio Ottoni and his colleagues from KU Leuven (University of Leuven) and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences conducted research using DNA from the bones, teeth, skin and fur of 200 cats they collected from archaeological sites in Africa, East Near as well as Europe.

It is estimated that the remains of this cat have an age ranging from 100 to 9,000 years. From DNA research, it is known that all cats are from Africa ( Felis Silvestris Lybica ). Subspecies of wild cat found in North Africa and the Near East.

It is estimated that this cat 10,000 years ago was domesticated by the first farmers who lived in the Near East region. The settlements of farmers in the area attract feral cats to come because of the abundance of pests and rodents. In addition, the farmers did not consider the existence of the cats to be a nuisance, they instead welcomed the stray cats with pleasure.

This is because the cat is useful for guarding the stock of cereal grains from pests that try to eat and damage them. The passage of time made humans and cats very close. Behavioral selection also led to the domestication of cats. Farmers who choose to migrate then decide to bring cats to live with them.

In the following year the cat then spread to Europe and to all other parts of the world because it was used to fight pests on Egyptian merchant ships. This spread began in the trading center of Egypt. Then the cat that was on the ship may partly spread to Southwest Asia, Europe and Africa.

Even evidence of cats originating from the Near East and Egypt, has been found at nearby Viking sites. The proof is in the form of cat bones with Egyptian characteristics.

"The current debate is whether the Egyptian cat originated from a cat from the Near East or whether the second domestication occurred in Egypt," said researcher Claudio Ottoni, quoted from the official KU Leuven website.

Cat Hair Pattern Research

Researchers found that cats with striped coat patterns were more common in ancient times. They came to this conclusion based on a research analysis of the bones and mummies of old cats.

Cats with striped patterns are also often depicted in ancient Egyptian murals. In the picture, the cat is always depicted with a pattern of stripes, not with spots or anything else. Because cats with fur patterns other than stripes were not a common in ancient Egypt.

This is the reason why people in ancient times often depicted the pattern of cat fur in their murals with a pattern of stripes because in those days there were more cats with stripes.

Do All Cats Come From There ?

Yes, all cats come from the near east and Ancient Egypt. Be it cat breeds such as Angora cat, Persian cat, Bengal cat, Maine Coon cat, Himalayan cat, Sphynx cat, British cat, mixed and other cat breeds. Even the origin of domestic cats comes from there.

That's an explanation of where native, domestic, race cats and domestic cats come from. With this article, hopefully it can answer your questions and add to your insight and can be useful for you.

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