All of today’s 600 million domestic cats descend from at least 5 female wildcats

African wildcat compared with domestic cat

It is an astonishing thought. About ten thousand years ago at least five different individual female cats of the Near Eastern wildcat (aka North African wildcat) population living in the savannah had the courage to overcome their fear of humans to live in an agricultural settlement in the river-rich lands that form an arc …

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Why do cats sometimes flick one hind paw after eating?

Domestic cat flicking leg after eating

We are referring to domestic cats. Perhaps wild cats do it as well. Some of them probably do and one species definitely does: the African wildcat, the ancestor of the domestic cat. I have just this minute watched my cat eat some dry cat food and immediately after eating he flicked or briefly shook …

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All of today’s 600m domestic cats descend from 5 female matriarchal wildcats

In the image below I have tried to present a feel for what the Fertile Crescent was like around 10,000 years ago when ‘at least five different females from the wildcat population’ befriended farmers and founded one of the greatest populations of domestic animal companions the world has seen: the domestic cat. Of course, …

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African and Asian wildcat – complete information

African wildcat

Based on a mitochondrial DNA study the umbrella label of “African wildcat” can be broken down into the Near Eastern wildcat (North African wildcat), the Asian wildcat (Asiatic wildcat), and the Southern African wildcat. We should also include the domestic cat which is a domesticated North African wildcat. This is a complicated area because …

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African-Asian Wildcat

Introduction The description “African-Asian wildcat” describes two subspecies of wild cat whose combined distribution is from the southernmost tip of the African continent, through the Middle East and East towards a region north and east of India in a wide arch. Part of the reason why they are described together is because there is …

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