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72 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM

FROM TOP: PONGTORN SUKGASE/SHUTTERSTOCK; MAP ADAPTED BY PERMISSION FROM MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LTD: C. OTTONI ET AL./NAT. ECOL. E

VOL. 1, 0139 (2017); ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, UK/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

❯

ANCIENT EGYPT has

long been considered the

domestic cat’s cradle. But

when researchers sequenced DNA

from more than 200 ancient cats,

they discovered that, while Nile

natives formed the most broadly

distributed lineage, they were not

the first.

Paleogeneticist Claudio Ottoni,

lead author of the June study in

Nature Ecology & Evolution, says,

according to DNA records, the

first wave of feline domestication

occurred about 6,400 years ago in

southwest Asia through southeast

Europe, but it remained a regional

affair.

Egyptian cats “conquered

the household” sometime after

that, Ottoni says. By the eighth

century B.C., they’d spread rapidly

via trade routes throughout the

Mediterranean and across

Asia and the Indian Ocean.

The study also showed

that, unlike domesticated

animals seen mostly as

sources of meat or labor, cats

served as companions and useful

pest-control agents aboard ships,

hence their global dispersal.

“The success of cats in

spreading across long and short

geographical ranges was linked

to a strong relationship between

them and humans,” Ottoni says.

“Evolutionarily speaking, cats

are one of the most successful

species, but it happened

because humans really liked

them.” — GEMMA TARLACH

MODERN WILDCAT RANGE &

ANCIENT DNA SAMPLE AREAS

71

Curiosity Killed the Cat

— But Ancient DNA

Revealed Its Backstory

Ancient Egyptian cats, like the one depicted above, were

not the first line humans domesticated, as experts had

previously thought.

Researchers studied remains

of F. s. lybica, whose modern

territory is shown above in

orange, and found that humans

first domesticated felines in

southwest Asia and southeast

Europe, not Egypt.

European wildcat

(Felis silvestris silvestris)

African wildcat

(F. s. lybica)

Asiatic wildcat

(F. s. ornata)

Southern African wildcat

(F. s. cafra)

Chinese Mountain cat

(F. s. bieti)

x DNA sample site