Cats first stole their way into the hearts and homes of people thousands of years ago – that’s how it went

A few years ago I had the opportunity to go on safari in southern Africa. It was particularly exciting to go hunting for wild predators at night: lions, leopards, hyenas.

As we drove through the darkness, our headlights occasionally illuminated a smaller hunter – a slender, tawny cat with faint spots or stripes. The glare caught the small cat for a moment before it scurried back into the shadows.

Because of its size and appearance, I initially assumed it was the pet of someone who had inexplicably wandered into the bush. However, closer inspection revealed distinctive features: its legs were slightly longer than most domestic cats and its tail had a distinctive black tip. However, if you saw such a cat from the kitchen window, your first thought would be “Look at that beautiful cat in the backyard” rather than “How did this African wildcat get to New Jersey?”

As an evolutionary biologist, I have spent my career studying how species adapt to their environment. My research has focused on reptiles, studying how natural selection works in lizards.

Still, I’ve always loved cats and been fascinated by them since we adopted a cat from the shelter when I was five. And the more I thought about these African wild cats, the more I marveled at their evolutionary success. This species’ claim to fame is simple: The African wild cat is the ancestor of our beloved pets. And although they’ve changed little, their descendants have become the two most popular pets in the world. (Numbers are fuzzy, but the global population of cats and dogs each approaches one billion.)

Apparently, the few evolutionary changes the domestic cat has undergone were just the right ones to sneak its way into people’s hearts and homes. How did they do it? I explored this question in my book The Cat’s Meow: How Cats Went from the Savannah to Your Sofa.

Why the African wildcat?

Big cats – like lions, tigers and pumas – are the most sensational stars of the cat world. But of the 41 species of wild cats, most are about the size of a domestic cat. Few people have ever heard of the black-footed cat or the Borneo cat, let alone the kodkod, oncilla or marbled cat. The small cat side of the cat family clearly needs a better PR agent.

Theoretically, any of these species could have been the ancestor of the domestic cat, but recent DNA studies clearly prove that today’s domestic cats evolved from the African wildcat – more specifically, the North African subspecies. Felis silvestris lybica.

Given the abundance of little kittens, why is it the North African wildcat that paved the way for our domestic cats?

In short, it was the right species in the right place at the right time. Civilization began in the Fertile Crescent about 10,000 years ago, when people first settled in villages and began growing food.

This area – which stretches across parts of modern-day Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iran and other countries – is home to numerous small cats, including caracals, servals, reed cats and sand cats. Of these, however, the African wildcat is the only one that still enters villages and is found near people.

African wildcats are one of the friendliest cat species. They are gently raised and can be loving companions. Their close relative, the European wildcat, on the other hand, develops into a terribly mean animal despite the greatest attention.

Given these trends, it’s easy to imagine what probably happened. People settled down and began growing grains, storing the surplus for lean times. These granaries led to an explosion in the rodent population. Some African wild cats – those least afraid of humans – took advantage of this abundance and stuck around. People saw the benefit of their presence and treated the cats kindly, perhaps offering them shelter or food. The bravest cats entered huts and perhaps allowed themselves to be petted – kittens are cute! – and voilà, the domestic cat was born.

Where exactly domestication occurred—whether in a single location rather than simultaneously across the region—is unclear. However, tomb paintings and sculptures show that domestic cats lived in Egypt 3,500 years ago. Genetic analysis—including DNA from Egyptian cat mummies—and archaeological data chart the cat diaspora. They moved northward through Europe (and eventually into North America), southward deeper into Africa, and eastward into Asia. Ancient DNA even shows that Vikings played a role in the widespread spread of cats.

Which cat characteristics were highlighted through domestication?

Domestic cats have many colors, patterns, and coat textures not found in wild cats. Some cat breeds have distinctive physical characteristics, such as the Munchkins’ short legs, the Siamese’s elongated face, or the Persians’ lack of a muzzle.

Yet many domestic cats appear essentially indistinguishable from wild cats. In fact, only 13 genes were altered by natural selection during the domestication process. In comparison, almost three times as many genes changed during the descent of dogs from wolves.

There are only two ways to positively identify a wild cat. You can measure the size of its brain – domestic cats, like other pets, have reduced brain areas associated with aggression, fear and general reactivity. Or you can measure the length of its intestine – domestic cats have longer intestines to digest plant foods provided by or captured by humans.

The most significant evolutionary changes during the domestication of cats concern their behavior. The common belief that domestic cats are aloof loners couldn’t be further from the truth. When many domestic cats live together – in places where humans provide plentiful food – they form social groups very similar to prides of lions. These cats consist of related females and are very friendly – they groom each other, play and lie on each other, nurse each other’s kittens, and even serve as midwives during births.

To signal friendly intentions, an approaching cat will stick its tail straight up, a trait unique to lions and no other cat species. As anyone who has ever lived with a cat knows, they also send this “I want to be friends” message to humans, indicating that they are accepting us into their social circle.

Development of a master manipulator

Domestic cats are quite vocal with their human companions and use different meows to communicate different messages. However, unlike tail-raising, this is not an example of them treating us as family members. On the contrary, cats rarely meow to each other.

The sound of these meows evolved during domestication to communicate more effectively with us. Listeners perceive the wild cat’s call as more urgent and demanding (“meow-OOOOOW!”), while the domestic cat’s call is more pleasant (“MEOW”). Scientists suspect that these shorter, higher-pitched sounds are more pleasing to our ears, perhaps because young humans have high-pitched voices and domestic cats have evolved to win favor with humans.

Cats manipulate people in a similar way with their purring. When they want something – imagine a cat rubbing against your legs in the kitchen while you open a can of wet food – they purr particularly loudly. And this purring is not the pleasant hum of a contented cat, but a persistent chainsaw broom demanding attention.

Scientists digitally compared the spectral properties of the two types of purr and discovered that the main difference is that the insistent purr contains a component that is very similar to the sound of a human baby crying. Humans are naturally attuned to this sound, of course, and cats have evolved to exploit this sensitivity to get our attention.

This will of course come as no surprise to anyone who has ever lived with a cat. Although cats are highly trainable – they are very food motivated – they usually train us more than we train them. As the old saying goes, “Dogs have owners, cats have staff.”

This article has been adapted from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization that brings you facts and trusted analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Jonathan Losos, Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Jonathan Losos recently published a book on the subject of this essay entitled “The Cat’s Meow.”