Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Cats became our companions way later than you think
Unlike other members of the feline family, like cheetah, puma, jaguar,
leopard, lion, lynx, and tiger, cats have been domesticated like dogs for some
time. Until recently, they were thought to have become humans’ companions when
agriculture began in the Levant around 10,000 years ago. But a new study of DNA
from cat bones from archaeological sites has found that cats seem to have started
living with humans only 3,500 to 4,000 years ago in Egypt. The domestication
spread to Europe about two millennia ago, and then to China along the Silk Road,
and also to other places on ships as pets and pest controllers. By then, dogs
had been humans’ companions for over 10 millennia. Is that why dogs tend to chase
cats?
Read the article and learn how and when the feline species became our
friends.
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