Cat owners will recognise the purr of pleasure from their pets when they are tickled behind the ears, but a new analysis comparing the domestic cat’s genome with that of its wild relatives suggests this may also have been key to taming the animals in the first place.
The analysis has identified some of the crucial changes in feline DNA that have occurred as the animals were domesticated over the past 9,000 years. Among the main differences are changes in genes associated with the growth of brain cells involved in feelings of reward and pleasure.
This suggests that humans first began domesticating these notoriously solitary creatures by appealing to their desire for treats and stroking. Those that responded were then more likely to be bred.
“You can imagine wild cats picking up scraps of food near human settlements initially and gradually becoming more accustomed to human presence,” said Dr. Bronwen Aken, one of those involved in the research at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, U.K. “They would have moved in closer to the point where they were being fed. The food would probably have been the primary reward and petting would have come later.”
Cats are thought to have been first domesticated around 10,000 years ago from the Near Eastern wildcat, which can still be found roaming the Middle East. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2014
