Cats like to think they don’t need us, but a new study into feline genetics has indicated that the global kitty population only boomed when they moved in with humans. The research, presented last week and reported by Nature, seems to show two distinct waves of growth in cat numbers: first around 10,000 years ago as humans first started cultivating crops, and second as we started taking to the seas.
CAT FAMILIES FROM EGYPT ENDED UP IN BULGARIA
The researchers behind the study sequenced DNA from more than 200 cats of various generations discovered in tombs, burial sites, and other archaeological sites, from as far back as 15,000 years ago, to animals born in the 1700s. Even among this limited sample, they found links in mitochondrial DNA, genetic information passed down through the maternal line only — suggesting that cat families had either moved or been taken near to human civilizations. This mitochondrial connection was spotted between wild cats found in the Middle East and creatures discovered close to the fertile east Mediterranean, a region well-known for its early agriculture. Researchers also found connections between cats that lived millennia later, linking mummified kitties discovered in Egyptian tombs with cats found as far away as Bulgaria, Turkey, and sub-Sarahan Africa.
TheVerge