Mesopotamia stood as the cradle of civilization, shaping monumental architecture, land planning, accounting, urban design, and the birth of writing. Tucked between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, it was also the place where humans and cats began a unique, long-standing companionship. A new factual study, highlighted in Nature, from researchers at a major US university, revisits this shared history with fresh evidence and questions.
The study proposes that the domestication of cats arose from a symbiotic relationship between wildcats (Felis silvestris) and early agricultural communities in Mesopotamia. Yet the authors stop short of declaring cats fully domesticated. They note that many cats remain comparatively wild in behavior when compared with dogs, and that even domestic cats released into the wild tend to continue hunting, surviving, and reproducing with little behavioral change.
The bond between humans and cats likely began as felines shifted from hunter-gatherers to farming, marking a transition from nomadism to settled, land-based life about ten thousand years ago.
The study suggests that brave lynxes benefited from higher prey densities near human settlements, while humans gained from reduced vermin populations through feline predation.
The researchers observe that genetic diversity and differentiation patterns in cats mirror those seen in other species, including humans after the adoption of farming. They argue that human history is written in the DNA of domesticated species.
pest controllers
The advent of farming allowed the accumulation of surplus food, attracting mice and rats. In this context, cats emerged as relentless hunters and were soon valued as authentic pest controllers.
The fascination with such a sensitive, aloof, yet independent animal encouraged people to bring cats along on migrations, dispersing them across continents.
To determine when cats became pets, researchers analyzed genetic samples from more than a thousand cats, drawn from Eurasia and Africa. They categorized individuals as wild, stray, domestic, community, or barn cats, noting that many animals still exhibit semi-domesticated behaviors, capable of returning to the wild.
The study concludes that the overall structure of today’s cat population reflects a single global population with notable geographic isolation at the edges of its range.
The authors emphasize that cat population diversity aligns with historical human migration patterns and the spread of other symbiotic species. Cats traveled with humans, colonizing the lands they visited and contributing to the broader story of human expansion.
According to the study’s results, the majority of domestic cats originated in the eastern Mediterranean basin, then moved outward to nearby islands and along the coast toward the Nile, eventually spreading to become a global presence.
A “very special” animal
The genetic analysis also shows distinct differences between cats from Western Europe and those in Southeast Asia, underscoring regional diversity within a single species.
Leslie Lyons, a professor of comparative medicine and feline geneticist, notes that unlike some other domesticated animals, cats show evidence of domestication concentrated in Mesopotamia before spreading elsewhere. Lyons has spent more than thirty years researching cat genetics and views the cat as a remarkably special animal with potential to illuminate human biology.
In addition to advancing understanding of feline biology, cats can serve as valuable biomedical models for studying genetic diseases that affect both cats and people, including kidney and eye conditions and dwarfism.
The ongoing work in comparative genetics and precision medicine underscores the One Health concept: insights from feline genetics may eventually inform human medicine and vice versa, as research explores shared disease mechanisms.
Earlier work by Lyons and colleagues, including a near-complete cat genome assembly, shows that the cat’s genomic structure shares surprising similarity with humans compared to most non-primate mammals. This similarity enhances the study of common diseases across species and strengthens the bridge between veterinary and human medical research.
A reference report on this topic appears in Nature Genetics, with additional data and context provided by researchers in the field. The discussion highlights how genetic studies of cats illuminate broader patterns in biology and disease.
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A note on the environment emerges from the study’s framing, with researchers acknowledging the importance of responsible pet ownership and biodiversity considerations in modern landscapes.
The findings presented support a view that the cat’s journey from the wild to the home reflects a long history of human-cat coevolution, a partnership shaped by farming, migration, and shared habitats across continents. This evolving story continues to inspire curiosity about how animals help humans understand themselves and their world.