The History of Cats
Cats are said to have 9 lives, and those lives have lived through many different periods of time, up to a few thousand years. This section focuses briefly on the history of the cat and how their relationship with humans have evolved over the centuries.
The Origin
According to Killarney Cat Hospital, cats first roamed the earth approximately 10.8 million years ago. From there, roaring cats such as lions, leopards, jaguars, and tigers branched off, about 6.4 million years ago. Ancestors of domestic cats appeared 3.4 million years ago, and small wildcat species were domesticated around 8,000-10,000 years ago.
First Interaction with Humans
Cats marked their existence on earth roughly 10,000 to 12,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent somewhere between Western Asia and North Africa. During this time, humans began adopting agricultural lifestyles. As such, these new changes brought rodents to their farms, which is where the Middle Eastern wildcats would make their entrance as they preyed on the rodents for food. They would eventually stick around to scavenge trash that humans would make.
Traveling the World
Cats were commonly brought on ships or on trade routes. One destination of notoriety was Egypt, where cats were treated like deities. Egyptians not only appreciated their help with rodents and snakes, but also admired their motherly qualities and graceful posture. As said by Alley Cat, "Cats were worshipped, mummified, and sometimes even dressed in golden jewelry to indicate the status of their owners". Interestingly, although the worshipped felines were sometimes used for ritual killings, despite having a divine status, unsanctioned murder of cats meant the death sentence.
Cats were introduced to the Roman Empire in 31 BC. From there, they became widespread in Europe around the 4th century. They would eventually board the Mayflower that Christopher Columbus was on when setting sail to the Americas.
Domestication
Different parts of the world began domesticating cats at different times. The Middle East is considered the first place where humans domesticated cats, around 10,000 years ago. Egypt would follow after 4,000 years, and then 3,000 years ago in China. Cats were considered demonic and relating to witchcraft by the time they arrived in Europe, taking them until the 17th or 18th century to be domesticated there.
House Cats as We Know Today
Cats weren't considered as house cats until the 20th century, around the time after World War I. It wasn't until then when basic inventions were created to cater to taking care of a cat, such as refrigeration, kitty litter, and the concept of spaying and neutering.
Cats in Media
When discussing the history of cats, their history on the Internet is just as important to note.
The first ever film to feature cats is speculated to be Thomas Edison's 1894 titled "The Boxing Cats". As for the first cat video on the Internet, Youtube co-founder Steve Chen uploaded the first cat video to Youtube titled "Pajamas and Nick Drake" on May 22, 2005, just a few months after Youtube first launched. The first cat video to go viral on YouTube was posted on May 9, 2006 by user Sanchey and titled "Puppy vs. Cat".
Now that we've discussed how cats have evolved over the course of history, let's head over to learn about common cat behavior.