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The domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) is the world’s most popular pet.
A descendant of the North African Wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), the domestic cat became associated with humans when agriculture began. Cats chose to live near grain stores, where they would be able to catch mice and other small animals. This association suited humans as well as cats - cats gained easy access to food and humans had their food protected from infestation.
Archeological evidence shows that the first tame cats appeared in the Fertile Crescent just as humans began settling there.
In Ancient Egypt, cats were worshiped. Bast, a goddess of love and fertility, was depicted with the body of a woman and the head of a cat.
Cats have played an important role in art and literature, from Japanese paintings and sculptures to the story of Puss in Boots.
The cat is a member of the order Carnivora, which also includes such animals as dogs, bears, hyenas, raccoons, ferrets, seals and walruses.
 All cats, from the largest tiger to the smallest housecat, belong to the family Felidae.
Cats are meat eaters and require an unusually high level of protein in their diets. Therefore, they are sometimes known as hypercarnivores. Cats must obtain all the nutrients in their diet from meat; they are obligate carnivores.
Because they rely so heavily on meat for their survival, cats have evolved to be extremely efficient predators.
Cats are agile and fast. They have graceful bodies with flexible spines. They walk on their toes. This posture, which is known as digitigrade, enables them to move very quickly.
The cat is built for power as well as agility and speed. Cats have powerful jaw muscles with strong canine teeth.
Their limbs are strong. The front paws have long claws. A cat can rotate its front legs in order to strike. A cat can retract its claws so they do not interfere when it is walking.
Cats have powerful senses. A cat has a very strong sense of smell. It can hear sounds much higher than a human can hear. They have well-developed binocular vision that allows them to judge distances. Cats can see in almost complete darkness.
A cat’s whiskers are sensitive to touch. They help the cat to hunt at night.
Most cats have spots, stripes or blotches. These color patterns act as camouflage.
A cat needs the ability to remain hidden in order to sneak up on prey, and, if it is a small cat or a cub or kitten, in order to avoid being attacked by predators.
Cats that live in forests tend to be darker, with color patterns that make them hard to see in dappled sunlight.
In the mountains, cats often have light-colored or grayish coats, to help them blend with rocky terrain and snow.
Desert cats are usually light and sandy-colored.
The domestic tabby cat has stripes because its ancestor, the North African Wildcat, is a striped cat.
Because domestic cats do not need to be camouflaged in order to survive, they can have many different coat colors. |