Springwatch Unsprung: Why Do Robins Have Red Breasts? by jo stevens the springwatch team

Author:jo stevens, the springwatch team
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-28T16:00:00+00:00

It’s very difficult to determine exactly when cats became domesticated because the skeletons of domestic cats and their wild predecessors are so similar. However, the skeleton of a domestic cat was found with its owner at an archeological site in Cyprus, having been buried about 9,500 years ago, so domestication must have occurred before then. Genetic studies suggest that cats began living with humans when agriculture blossomed in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East around 12,000 years ago. Wildcats were probably attracted by the rodent pests that were drawn to our ancestors’ grain stores and stayed to take advantage of this food source. No doubt, humans would have welcomed these cats if they helped to keep pests at bay. The origins of our pet cats are a bit murky but biologists suspect that their ancestors include the African and European wildcats, both subspecies of Felis sylvestris that might have interbred in the Middle East region.

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