Cat History explores the fascinating origins and evolution of domestic cats. Discover how cats became beloved companions around the world and the cultural significance they hold.
Whether revered, reviled, or simply ignored, cats have in general not been served well by religious beliefs. Being regarded as sacred animals in pagan religions of the past may have placed cats among the gods, but for millions of them it also guaranteed a sacrificial death. With the rise of Christianity it became even more … Read more
Clever and helpful, or devious and downright sneaky, the cats in traditional folk tales have a mixed reputation. The way they are represented reflects how people across generations and in various countries have understood, and frequently misunderstood, the character of the average domestic feline. The cat-and-mouse theme is especially prevalent and appears in many cultures … Read more
For the most part, cats have been sidelined in adult literature, making appearances as major players largely in books for children. Some literary cats are more realistic than others, but even the most fantastic usually have qualities that are instantly recognizable as feline. Often, the creators of fictional cats have used their own pets as … Read more
The internet has no shortage of cute cat content. People love watching funny feline antics and adorable cat pictures. In 2024, some cats have risen to international stardom thanks to viral social media posts showcasing their charming personalities. Here are some of the cutest internet-famous cats stealing hearts right now. Lil Bub One of the … Read more
With the beginning of the great voyages of discovery and colonization that set out from Europe from the 15th century onward, domestic cats crossed the Atlantic for the first time. Taken on board sailing ships to control infestations of rodents, they had ample time on the long sea passages to the Americas to produce kittens. … Read more
Cats are world citizens and have come a long way from their roots in North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. While cats do not respect boundaries, and some early house cats probably moved independently, they have mostly traveled where humans have taken them. Even in areas where their wild counterparts have never occurred— such as … Read more
The story of the cat’s domestication is one of mutual appreciation, not servitude: early farming communities benefited from cats’ rodent-catching skills, while cats won themselves protection and shelter without losing their independence. Our relationship with cats reaches back thousands of years, although compared to the domestication of other animals, that of the cat was a … Read more
Since the time of the primitive cat-ancestor Cimolestes in the late Cretaceous, saber-toothed carnivores have arisen on three occasions in three different carnivore groups. The earliest were the creodonts, followed by the nimravids, and finally the saber-toothed cats, including Smilodon. None of these are considered to be directly ancestral to the cats living today. Saber-toothed … Read more
One of the earliest ancestors of our modern cats is considered to be a meat-eating mammal named Proailurus (meaning “before cats”), which appeared in what is now Eurasia during the Oligocene epoch 34–23 million years ago. Little is known about Proailurus, but fossil remains show that it was not much larger than a domestic cat … Read more
By the middle of the 19th century, domestic cats could be found on almost every sizeable landmass in the world and had diversified into distinct types. In Europe and the United States, the import of exotic-looking cats such as the Siamese and Turkish Angora stimulated much interest, and people began to see the taken-for-granted farmyard … Read more