Who brought the first cat to america?

Answer 1

For a long time, it was believed that cats were first domesticated by the Egyptians. Scientific research has shown that this may not be the case. More recent genetic and archaeological discoveries have suggested that domestication of cats started in the area known as the Fertile Crescent, possibly around 10,000 years ago.

There are indications from research over about the last 5 years that it was wild cats that began to make their presence known around occupied houses, farms and settlements. They took advantage of the mice in the area, and even the owners' food scraps, and started making themselves at home.

Answer 2

Current thought is that cats were first domesticated in the fertile crescent region...here's an article detailing a DNA study done to trace the origins of the common house cat:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6251434.stm

Answer 3

Cats are an endemic species to Europe. The Wildcat(Felis silvestris), is a small cat native to Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa. It is a hunter of small mammals, birds, and other creatures of a similar size. There are several subspecies distributed in different regions.

Answer 4

There has been much debate over the origins of the domestic cat over the last century or so. It is most likely that the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), is the ancestor of the modern domestic cat. This species is found mostly in the deserts of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries and is thought that some individuals started living in close proximity to humans around ten to twelve thousand years ago.

These formerly wild felines became household companions, and the same cat species appear to have accompanied human tribes as they gradually migrated and spread throughout the world.

Answer 5

It is thought that the oldest "true" cat was Proailurus. It lived in what is now Europe and Asia, around 25 million years ago. It was a small predator, slightly larger than a modern domestic cat.

Proailurus is thought to be to be a likely ancestor to Pseudaelurus, prehistoric cat that lived 20-8 million years ago. Pseudaelurus is the ancestor of today's cats, as well as the famous sabre-tooth cats.

Answer 6

The very first cats introduced into the New World were brought by the Spanish settlers of Hispaniola in 1498 in what is now Santo Domingo. More followed, as they were often part of the ship's crew. From Hispaniola, they spread across MesoAmerica along with the Spanish. Wherever the Spanish went, the cat (and dogs) accompanied him, along with other domesticated animals like the horse, pig, sheep and cattle.

The first cats in what became the USA landed in Florida, with the Spanish, far ahead of the Pilgrims and the eventual settlement of New England by Europeans. Cats, of course, were the answer to rodent control aboard the boats as well as in the settlements.

Dr. Betty J. Meggers, PhD, Smithsonian Archaeologist

Answer 7

In ancient Egypt. But where the hell in Ancient Egypt?

Answer 8

Ancient Civilizations domesticated cats. So during ancient Egypt times there were cats.

Answer 9

the earliest record of a domestic cat is from the island of Cypress, off the coast of Greece

Answer 10

Egypt in Africa