Cats were thought to be first domesticated in ancient Egypt, as since around 3100 BC, veneration was given to cats in ancient Egypt as mummified cats can be found in Egyptian burial tombs dating to this age. New archeological finds have pushed the date of the first domesticated cats back to around 7500 BC.

Gabby portrait by Paul Sager, on Flickr


The scientific name Felis catus was proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for a domestic cat. The domestic cat is a member of the Felidae, a family that had a common ancestor about 10–15 million years ago.

Gabby portrait


The earliest known indication for a tame cat was found in a human Neolithic grave in southern Cyprus, dating to about 7500–7200 BC. Since there is no evidence of native mammalian fauna on Cyprus, the inhabitants of this Neolithic village most likely brought the cat and other wild mammals to the island from the Middle Eastern mainland.

Gabby portrait


Images shared in this post use either the EF 135mm f/2L or the EF 85mm f/1.4L IS with an EOS 5DIII. To shorten the minimum focal length for close-up portraits, the Canon Extension Tube EF 12 II was used with both lenses. The RAW files are processed in Adobe Lightroom v6.

Gabby portrait


During domestication, cats have undergone only minor changes in anatomy and behavior, and they are still capable of surviving in the wild.

Gabby portrait


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