Before cats took over the internet, they spread across the ancient world around 10,000 years ago. According to a new study, which has allowed the analysis of ancient DNA, these cats evolved into the domestic animals we know today thanks to several waves of domestication and the contribution of the inhabitants of Egypt and the Middle East. Analysis reveals that all domestic cats are descended from the African wild cat Felis silvestris lybica.

The first appeared in southwestern Asia and spread to Europe about 6,400 years ago. According to the analysis carried out by the scientists, cats were domesticated by the first farmers in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago. The domestication of the cat, based on a mutually beneficial relationship between the feline and the human, took place in the first agricultural settlements, where farmers accepted the entry of cats to keep rodents away from production. Over time, this behavior led to the domestication of the bobcat.

The second lineage corresponds to that of most of the Egyptian mummies analyzed. In this case, the feline spread throughout the Mediterranean and other parts of the world during the first millennium BC thanks to the introduction of cats on commercial ships as mouse hunters.