Page 10 - The Complete Cat Breed Book (DK)

8 INTR ODUC TION T O C A T S

WHAT IS A CAT?

The domestic cat is now the world’s most popular pet, but cats
were not always tame. The relationship between humans and cats
began in the Near East about 10,000 years ago, when cats killed
the rodents that ate grain stored in towns and villages. They were
kept as pets in Egypt from about 2000 BCE, but the different
Cats are fast-moving
breeds have only been created over the last hundred years or so. natural athletes

Evolution of the cat The most recent cats to evolve include the lynxes (US and
The family history of the domestic cat goes way back in time, Europe), the bobcat (US), the leopard cat (Southeast Asia),
to long before the first humanlike primates walked the Earth. and the wildcats (Africa, Europe, and Asia). The domestic cat
All cats—from tigers, jaguars, and other big cats to smaller is descended from the African wildcat, and it is generally
lynxes and ocelots—belong to the family of mammals called considered to be a wildcat subspecies.
Felidae, which contains 41 living species. The first catlike
carnivores appeared around 35 million years ago. Fossil Domestication
evidence suggests that modern felids arose in Asia about 11 In the Near East, about 10,000 years ago, humans began
million years ago. However, the big cats we know today, such growing cereal crops and storing grain for the first time.
as the lion, did not evolve until much later, between 4 and 2 They found that rats and mice would get into their stores
million years ago, when a drier, warmer climate gave rise to and eat the grain. However, the rodents themselves were
open habitats and herds of soft-skinned grazing animals. eaten by small predators, such as the African wildcat.
The athletic build of big cats was ideal for catching such prey. Soon a relationship between cats and humans developed:
Less agile cats, such as the sabre-tooths, gradually died out. the cats had a ready supply of food in the rodents that

THE CAT FAMILY

■ This diagram shows the
relationship between the
domestic cat and some of the
other members of the cat
family—the Felidae—based on An experimental
Crossing servals breed known as
genetic evidence. The closer a with domestic cats the Caracat is the
cat is to the domestic cat on produced the product of breeding
this diagram, the more similar Savannah breed. caracals with
their genetic makeup. domestic cats.
■ All Felidae are carnivores—
they eat exclusively meat and
could not survive on a
plant-based diet.
■ Though they vary in size,
most cats share some physical
characteristics—they have lithe,
muscular bodies, large eyes,
and retractable claws, and most
have tails that measure up to
half of their body length. Tiger Serval Caracal Ocelot & relatives