Cats spread from north Africa and the Middle East in two waves, and they likely rode on Viking ships, a new study of ancient feline DNA has found. An international team of researchers found that cats’ dispersal happened in two waves, first from the Fertile Crescent and later from Egypt. Their genes aren’t very different from those of wild cats, nor are their bodies or features — they don’t, for example, have the floppy ears and curly tails common to many domesticated animals. While wild cats have striped, “mackerel,” tabby patterns, only domestic tabbies have blotchy fur coats. Geigl said she would like to do additional work to determine how black cats, which Egyptian iconography depicted, came about.

Source: Washington Post June 19, 2017 15:06 UTC