When and where were cats first domesticated?

It is unknown where cats were first domesticated, but it has been established they were so by c. 12,000 BCE in Mesopotamia.

Where did domesticated house cats come from?

Domesticated house cats came from wild cats and it has been established that wild cats lived among humans 100,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. These wild cats eventually befriended humans and were domesticated by them.

Were dogs or cats domesticated first?

Dogs were domesticated before cats. According to some cat owners, cats have never actually been domesticated.

Which ancient civilization is most closely associated with cats?

Ancient Egypt is the civilization most closely associated with cats as one of their most popular goddesses, Bastet, was envisioned as a cat or a woman with a cat's head.

A Gallery of Cats Through the Ages (Image Gallery) p. 17

Image Gallery

by Joshua J. Mark
published on 09 October 2024

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Vase Painting of a Man with his Cheetah

by British Museum
published on 04 March 2021

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Vase Painting of a Man with his Cheetah — View Full-Size Image

A red-figure vase painting depicting a bearded man with his pet cheetah. The man holds a walking stick in one hand, and with the other he leads the cheetah by a red leash connected to its collar. Attributed to the painter Apollodorus. Produced in Attica, c. 490 BCE. Found in Vulci, Italy. Diameter: 19.5 cm (7.6 in).

The British Museum, London.

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Questions & Answers

When and where were cats first domesticated?: It is unknown where cats were first domesticated, but it has been established they were so by c. 12,000 BCE in Mesopotamia.
Where did domesticated house cats come from?: Domesticated house cats came from wild cats and it has been established that wild cats lived among humans 100,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. These wild cats eventually befriended humans and were domesticated by them.
Were dogs or cats domesticated first?: Dogs were domesticated before cats. According to some cat owners, cats have never actually been domesticated.
Which ancient civilization is most closely associated with cats?: Ancient Egypt is the civilization most closely associated with cats as one of their most popular goddesses, Bastet, was envisioned as a cat or a woman with a cat's head.

Add External Link

External Links

The History of the Domestic Cat

alleycat.org

The Evolution of House Cats | Scientific American

scientificamerican.com

The Origins Of Cats | International Cat Care

icatcare.org

Ship's Cat - National Maritime Historical Society

seahistory.org

License & Copyright

The British Museum has released this image under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. You can read more about the British Museum and Creative Commons here. Original image by British Museum. Uploaded by Arienne King, published on 04 March 2021. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.