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All domestic cats owe their lineage to wild Middle East ancestors

Friday, June 29th, 2007

June 29 : All domestic cats owe their origin to wild ancestors who roamed the deserts of Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries some 70,000 to 100,000 years ago.

The Near Eastern wildcat still roams the deserts of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries, and study co-author Stephen O’Brien of the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, believes that between 70,000 and 100,000 years ago they gave rise to the genetic lineage that eventually produced all domesticated cats.

“It’s plausible that the ancient [domestic cat] lineages were present in the wildcat populations back as far as 70,000 or 100,000 years ago,” said O’Brien, adding, that the wildcats may have been captured around 10,000 or 12,000 years ago when humans were settling down to farming.

“One of nearly 40 wild cat species existing at that time, the little wildcat that lived in the Middle East had a genetic variance that allowed it to sort of try an experiment—let’s walk in and see if we can get along with those people,” he added.

A research team led by geneticist Carlos Driscoll of the National Cancer Institute and scientists at the University of Oxford in England found five matriarchal lineages to which modern domestic cats belong; the Near Eastern wildcat, the European wildcat, the Central Asian wildcat, the southern African wildcat, and the Chinese desert cat.

The sampling of feline genes revealed that the Near Eastern wildcat and domestic cats fell into the same genetic clade, a group of species with the same ancestor, which meant that the ancient ancestors of the wildcats were likely the first cats to be domesticated.

The genetic diversity of living cats further revealed that approximately a time gap of 70,000 to 100,000 years was necessary to produce that degree of diversity.

“This tells us that domestic cats were sort of widely recruited, probably over time and space,” Driscoll said, however adding, that people probably didn’t go about catching—or herding—cats.

“The cats just sort of domesticated themselves. People today know that you can’t keep a cat inside [without barriers], and 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent you couldn’t just shut the window,” National Geographic quoted him as saying.

According to him, farmers were likely the first to domesticate wildcats.

The animals may have been helpful in hunting mice and other pests that plagued farm fields in the early human settlements, which had just sprang from the first agricultural development, he said.

He said the cats probably accompanied human tribes as they gradually migrated and spread throughout the ancient world.

“It’s sort of analogous to the ‘out of Africa’ theory that people talk about for humans. In the same way, domestic cats from Europe are really the same as domestic cats from Israel or China or wherever,” he said. (ANI)

Disclaimer: Bioscholar is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. The articles are based on peer reviewed research, and discoveries/products mentioned in the articles may not be approved by the regulatory bodies.

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