The history of cat domestication stretches back nearly 10,000 years, evidence from a new genetic study shows, and the bond between humans and felines was most likely sparked by a shift in the lifestyles of our ancestors.
An international team of researchers looked at the genotypes of more than 1,000 random-bred cats from Europe, Asia and Africa, concentrating on almost 200 genetic markers that established links between areas and breeds.
The team was able to trace back the earliest signs of domestication to the Fertile Crescent region, those parts of the Middle East along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This so-called 'cradle of civilization' hasHolocene geological epoch Thousands of years later, the genes of cats across the world now show signs of 'isolation by distance', the researchers say, where genetic similarities between populations decrease as the geographical distances between them widen. The genetic composition of cats in western Europe, for example, looks significantly different to cats in southeast Asia.
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