9781422274958

Nearly all cats, regardless of breed, are adventurous and exploratory, feeling much more comfortable when they are fully aware of everything in their environment.

Greeks; Romans, Gauls, and Celts. Thus, the domestic cat had begun its spread throughout Europe. Although this is the most widely accepted explanation of the ori- gins of our domestic cat, there are those who believe the Euro- pean wildcat also contributed some individuals to the initial domestication movement in the more northerly climes. The pro- cess would have been much the same as that which took place in northern Africa. The first domestic cats, other than some limited numbers of big cats that were held in captivity by some ancient South American cul-

tures, came to the New World on the far side of the Atlantic with the first European settlers. No record has been verified as to when the first domestic cat set foot on American soil, where it came from, or what breed it may have been. However, it’s a rela- tively safe bet that some ship’s cat or settler’s farm cat captured that honor early in the European settlement of the Americas. That’s how the domestic cat came to be one of the most wide- spread animal species on Earth, but it’s only the past few thou- sand years of the cat’s history. The first chapters of the story extend back millions more years.

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