The Development and Spread of the Domestic Cat – more cat history
The domestic cat is a tamed wild cat. In this instance the term “wild cat” refers to a species of small wild cat by that name (a bit confusing possibly). The wild cat is naturally similar in appearance to the domestic cat. There is still (just) a wild cat in Scotland with a population of about 400. But are these purebred wildcats anymore? A new program to neuter 100,000 feral cats occupying the wildcats habitat is planned to remove the prospect of diluting the genes.
The African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica) is quite wide spread, more likely to be purebred (than the Scottish wildcat) and it was tamed by the Egyptians some 4,000 years ago1. The skeletons of African wildcats and domesticated wildcats are very similar, understandably3. The wildcat is a tabby cat and the tabby domestic cat is the most numerous of all coat types.
The exact process of domestication is unclear but the wild cat proved to be useful and that is a good reason for making friends with it and domesticating it. It is likely that African wild cat kittens and their parents on the periphery of villages, where they would have scavenged and kept rodents and snakes down, where then domesticated. The wealthy Egyptians of that time also liked to tame wild animals generally and would have added tamed wilcats to their collections, it is thought5. African wild cat kittens are not necessarily easy to handle, however6. But a visitor to this site differs in that assessment (My Pet African Wildcat)
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