Tabby Takeoverīy comparing the DNA of cats throughout history, the study captures a glimpse of how the animals were changing even before humans started to cart them across the globe, Ottoni says. The results suggest that prehistoric human populations probably began carrying their cats along ancient land and sea trade routes to control rodents. This Egyptian cat probably had behaviors that made it attractive to humans, such as sociability and tameness. However, one resident has made it her mission to look after Jerusalem's strays and give them the best life possible.Ī second lineage, consisting of African cats that dominated Egypt, spread into the Mediterranean and most of the Old World beginning around 1500 B.C. (Also see “ Surprising Things You Never Knew About Your Cat.”)Ĭat overpopulation threatens the well-being of felines in the Old City of Jerusalem, leaving them susceptible to disease, neglect, and starvation. Instead, people more or less allowed cats to domesticate themselves. “It’s not that humans took some cats and put them inside cages,” he says.

“This is probably how the first encounter between humans and cats occurred,” says study coauthor Claudio Ottoni of the University of Leuven. Cats likely followed the rodent populations and, in turn, frequently approached the human settlements. Mice and rats were attracted to crops and other agricultural byproducts being produced by human civilizations. (See little-known small cats in “ Out of the Shadows, the Wildcats You’ve Never Seen.”)

The cats likely started hanging around farming communities in the Fertile Crescent about 8,000 years ago, where they settled into a mutually beneficial relationship as humans’ rodent patrol. The earlier ancestors of today’s domestic cats spread from southwest Asia and into Europe as early as 4400 B.C.

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