December 2, 2025 | 01:54 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Recent DNA analysis indicates that domestic cats originated from North Africa and only spread to Europe and East Asia in the past 2,000 years. This finding revises previous assumptions that domestic cats originated from the Levant and arrived in Europe around 9600 BC.
Led by Claudio Ottoni from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, a group of researchers examined 225 ancient cat specimens from nearly 100 archaeological sites in Europe and the area that is now Turkey. From the study, the team obtained 70 ancient genomes representing a period of over 10,000 years and 17 genomes from museum specimens and present-day wildcats from Italy, Bulgaria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
The genetic analysis results show that the earliest identified cats classified as African wildcats or domestic cats originated from Sardinia in the 2nd century AD. Previous findings in Europe genetically represented European wildcats, narrowing down the presumed time of domestic cats' entry into the continent.
Ottoni mentioned that the Mediterranean civilization in the first millennium BC played a significant role in the spread of African wildcats, which consisted of at least two different genetic populations. One settled in Sardinia and became the ancestors of the modern wildcats that exist today. The other population formed the genetic basis of modern domestic cats.
"At the beginning of the domestication process, cats were probably very good at adapting to the human environment," said Ottoni, as cited in a review by New Scientist published on November 27, 2025. He mentioned that the furry animals developed alongside humans in various urban and suburban contexts.
In a separate study, Shu-Jin Luo from Peking University and colleagues analyzed 22 sets of feline remains over 5,000 years old from China, as well as 130 genomes of modern and ancient Eurasian cats. They found that before the arrival of domestic cats, humans coexisted with a different species: the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis).
"These cats frequented human settlements, likely drawn by rodents, but they were never truly domesticated," Luo stated.
The study also indicates that domestic cats only arrived in China around 1,300 years ago during the Tang Dynasty, possibly brought through the Silk Road from the Middle East and Central Asia. Although leopard cats lived close to humans for over 3,500 years, the species never became domesticated and returned to its natural habitat.
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