Do you give ancient Egypt credit for the domestication of cats? That’s what many people think! But, with some new evidence, it seems that cats became our cuddly counterparts a little further east and because of an emerging pest problem.

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Sources:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/were-cats-domesticated-more-once
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/12/when-cats-became-comrades
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/1/116
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-house-cats-158390681/?no-ist
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/48/17230.abstract
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/11/genes-turned-wildcats-kitty-cats
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/07/cat_domestication_debate_over_hunting_tameness_docility_affection_feral.html
http://www.livescience.com/48696-origins-of-cat-domestication.html
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/317/5837/519
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0147295

Images:
Egyptian Tomb Carvings: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sarcophagus_of_Prince_Thutmose%27s_cat_by_Madam_Rafa%C3%A8le.jpg
Bastet:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bastet_Istanbul_museum.JPG
Fertile Crescent: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fertile_Crescent_map.png
African Wild Cat: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AfricanWildCat.jpg
Wild Cat 2: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Felis_Lybica_Sarda_05.JPG
Leopard Cat: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leopard_Cat_Tennoji.jpg
Leopard Cat Night: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leopard_cat_India.jpg

Where Do Domestic Cats Come From?

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