HISTORY OF CATS

Domestication Of Cats
For the cat, as for other domestic animals, the process of domestication occurred over a long period of time. Wild cats would have become associated with humans once humans stopped being hunter-gatherers and formed permanent settlements where they farmed. Harvested grain would be stored in grain stores which would attract mice and rats which would have attracted wild cats. Human agriculturists would quickly see the advantage of encouraging cats to help control the vermin, so a loose but mutually beneficial association would have been forged.

When the process of domestication started is unclear, estimates rely on archaeological discoveries of cat remains that can be shown to be closely associated with humans. Although various remains have been found in Egyptian archaeological sites dating to 6700BC, there is no firm evidence to suggest that these were domesticated cats, in fact they are more likely to have been wild cats. If finding a cat skeleton buried with a person is evidence of domestication then this is first seen about 5000BC in Egypt. However it was not until 2500BC that cats were first depicted in Egyptian tomb art. Cat remains from Egypt around 2000BC could well be from a domestic variety and paintings and inscriptions from the same period portray cats in situations that suggest that they were domesticated. From this time on there is plenty of evidence to show that cats became well established in Egyptian homes.

It has been suggested that this process of domestication of the African wild cat that happened in Egypt around 2000BC took place because of a genetic change. The basis for this reasoning is that domestic cats have kittens that are tame while wild cats have kittens that are aggressive. Wild cat kittens can be tamed but they are not born tame. Therefore the reasoning goes that there must have been a genetic change to make domestic kittens inherently tame. This genetic change resulted in cats loosing their wild temperament and gaining a domestic temperament. This genetic change that results in tame kittens also seems to prevent the development of some adult behaviour patterns that are seen in wild cats. Domestic cats retain juvenile behaviour patterns and don't progress to the adult behaviour seen in wild cats. This retention of juvenile behaviour is known as neotony. Adult wild cats are solitary but a close family group is formed when a female gives birth to and rears her kittens. As the wild cat kittens mature they again become loners. This is not the case with domestic cats which retain juvenile behaviour and remain in groups. Even domestic cats which become feral tend to stay together in colonies.

This genetic change could have come about by a domestication mutation or selective breeding by humans. People would choose to keep and breed the cats that were easily managed. Those displaying neotony or juvenile characteristics were more family oriented and less independent than adult cats and were therefore more suited to life within a human family. This process of domestication is the same that occurred with the dog.

Despite domestication a cats wild temperament is just below the surface and not all cats show the same degree of tameness. There is a wide range of temperaments within the domestic cat population, some cats are extremely tame others have a definite wild streak. Lack of aggression in domestic cats needs to be reinforced by human contact form an early age. If not some of the wild cats temperament starts to reappear. For example, kittens born to a domestic cat that has become feral are distrustful of humans and have to be subjected to basic taming in order to adapt to living in a human home.