scienceisbeauty: Cats Domesticated Themselves, Ancient DNA ShowsIn true feline form, cats took the
scienceisbeauty: Cats Domesticated Themselves, Ancient DNA Shows In true feline form, cats took their time deciding whether to jump into humans’ laps. In a new comprehensive study of the spread of domesticated cats, DNA analysis suggests that cats lived for thousands of years alongside humans before they were domesticated. During that time, their genes have changed little from those of wildcats, apart from picking up one recent tweak: the distinctive stripes and dots of the tabby cat. Researchers surveyed the DNA of more than 200 cats spanning the last 9,000 years, including ancient Romanian cat remains, Egyptian cat mummies, and modern African wildcat specimens. Two major cat lineages contributed to the domestic feline we know today, they report in a study published Monday in Nature Ecology & Evolution. via National Geographic Bottom image from the original paper in Nature: The palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world -- source link