Mesopotamia stands as the cradle of civilization, birthplace of monumental architecture, land planning, accounting, urban growth, and the invention of writing. Nestled between the Tigris and Euphrates, this fertile region also marks where humans and cats began living side by side. A new factual study published in Nature from the University of Missouri (USA) sheds light on this long shared history.
The study notes that the domestication of cats likely reflects a symbiotic relationship between wildcats (Felis silvestris) and early agricultural communities in Mesopotamia. This partnership helped farmers manage pests while giving cats reliable access to food.
Yet the authors question whether cats are fully domesticated. Unlike dogs, cats have changed little in behavior after joining human communities. If a domestic cat returns to the wild, it often resumes hunting, surviving, and mating, whereas a pet dog faces far more challenges adapting back to the wild.
The link between humans and cats began with the shift from hunter gatherer life to settled farming, roughly ten thousand years ago when cats started dwelling in specific places rather than roaming as nomads.
The study suggests that brave lynxes may have benefited from higher prey density near human settlements, while people gained from reduced rodent populations through cat predation.
The researchers say that the observed genetic diversity and differentiation patterns in cats mirror those seen in other species, especially humans after adopting farming. The message is clear: human history is written in the DNA of domesticated animals.
pest controllers
Farming produced abundance, which in turn attracted mice and rats. Cats, tireless and cunning hunters, emerged as natural pest controllers and were regarded with growing appreciation by people.
Early fascination with this perceptive, independent, yet endearing creature led to its movement with human populations as people migrated across the globe.
To determine when cats became pets, researchers analyzed genetic samples from more than a thousand cats spanning Eurasia, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
They examined a spectrum of cats, from wild and stray to domestic and community cats. Some examples remain semi-domesticated from a behavioral standpoint because they can slip back into the wild.
The study concludes that the overall cat population likely formed a single worldwide group with notable genetic separation due to distance from remote subpopulations.
Cat population diversity supports the migration patterns of humans and other species that share a close bond with people. Cats traveled with humans as they settled new lands and influenced the spread of cultures.
The origins, as the study suggests, show most domestic cats concentrated in the eastern Mediterranean basin before spreading to nearby islands, along the coast toward the Nile valley, and then across continents.
A “very special” animal
The genetics also reveal notable differences between cats from Western Europe and those in Southeast Asia, illustrating regional diversity.
Leslie Lyons, a professor of comparative medicine and feline geneticist at the University of Michigan School of Veterinary Medicine, points out that unlike horses or cattle, cats appear to have been domesticated primarily in Mesopotamia and then spread outward. This supports the theory that cat domestication began there before broad migration.
Lyons, a researcher for more than three decades, regards cats as a remarkably distinct animal. They can serve as a powerful biomedical model for studying genetic diseases that affect both felines and humans, including polycystic kidney disease, blindness, and dwarfism.
Comparative genetics and precision medicine play a key role in the One Health concept. Investigating the causes of genetic diseases in cats can inform approaches to human medicine as well, illustrating shared biology across species.
A recent study noted that the cat genome resembles that of humans more closely than most other non-primate mammals. This similarity is especially helpful when examining common diseases shared between cats and people.
The referenced study is published in Nature and marks a notable step in understanding how domestication unfolded and how cats became companions across civilizations.
The research highlights the profound connection between human history and the animals living alongside people, a narrative that continues to shape science and culture today.
Notes on the study are attributed to Nature and related scholarly work, underscoring a growing appreciation for the genetic ties that bind humans and cats.
The broader implications for health and biology remain a focal point for ongoing research in comparative medicine and genomics.
This evolving story of cat domestication continues to illuminate how humans and animals influence one another across time, space, and species.
The nature of this inquiry reflects a larger trend toward interdisciplinary science, bridging archaeology, genetics, ecology, and veterinary medicine to better understand the shared journey of living beings on Earth.