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Leopard felines (Prionailurus bengalensis) coexisted alongside humans in China for millennia before the arrival of domestic cats with traders from the Silk Road.(Image credit: Rapeepong Puttakumwong/Getty Images)ShareShare by:
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Fresh investigation demonstrates that individuals were sharing settlements with leopard cats in old China for upwards of 3,500 years prior to the introduction of domestic felines.
These results indicate that denizens of the region maintained a sustained and intricate bond with such creatures for a great many years before the arrival of house cats with merchants by way of the Silk Road some 1,400 years back.
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The study made its debut Thursday (Nov. 27) in the Cell Genomics periodical.
Contemporary domestic felines (Felis catus), offspring of African wildcats (Felis lybica), have adjusted so successfully to dwelling alongside people that they are now pervasive across every continent except Antarctica.
Nevertheless, the specific timing and site of their original domestication is indistinct, as researchers have at prior times proposed the Levant around 9,500 years ago and Egypt nearly 3,500 years ago. One of the prevailing notions suggests their dispersal to Europe alongside Neolithic farmers around 2,500 years ago, followed by their ultimate passage along the Silk Road via Eurasia into China.
Yet, in 2013, indications of felines cohabitating with humans in western China millennia earlier, approximately 3300 B.C., were uncovered, challenging that premise.
In 2022, examination of the feline DNA demonstrated that these bygone felines in China were not domesticated cats, but rather leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis), a diminutive wild feline originating from South, Southeast, and East Asia.
Rather than clarifying the issue, the result spurred further queries: the duration of leopard cat coexistence with humans, the timeframe and process of domestic cat arrival in China, and the consequent scenario when domestic cats emerged and realized they were not the only members of the cat family present.
To glean deeper insight, the research team responsible for the present study employed radiocarbon dating and DNA sequencing on nuclear and mitochondrial genomes derived from 22 ancient feline bone samples, excavated across 14 Chinese archaeological locales, spanning from approximately 3500 B.C. to A.D. 1800. Subsequently, the scientists juxtaposed their findings with previously disseminated ancient and present-day feline genomes sourced globally.
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Among the 22 specimens, 14, dated between roughly A.D. 730 and 1800, were recognized as domestic cats. The earliest domestic feline was discovered in Tongwan City, a pivotal center along the Silk Road in western China. Previous studies pinpointed another domestic feline further westward along the Silk Road in Kazakhstan, dated from A.D. 775 to 940.
The earliest confirmed representations of domestic cats in China are depicted as painted motifs within two tombs situated in central China, dating to approximately A.D. 820 and 830. Furthermore, a written chronicle from around the same period recounts the empress gifting a cherished cat to her ministers.
These records insinuate that domestic cats reached China via the Silk Road relatively recently, around A.D. 700, and owing to their recent introduction, they were regarded as rare pets predominantly owned by the ancient Chinese elite, according to Luo’s discourse with Live Science. The cats were commonly white, a hue venerated among animals, she noted.
All prior remains were attributed to leopard cats, spanning from approximately 5,400 years ago to around A.D. 150.
As researchers delved into the study of these felines, they discerned that the intimate liaison between humans and leopard cats transcended mere fleeting occurrences, instead representing a shared heritage spanning more than 3,500 years, as elucidated by Luo.
She posited that leopard cats in ancient China might have once occupied an ecological role akin to domestic cats, establishing a commensal bond with humans by preying on small rodents within villages and agricultural fields.
“I surmise that in archaic eras, people would harbor the young and attempt to rear it for rodent control purposes. I doubt it ever achieved complete domestication, yet it undoubtedly fostered a more affectionate link than that observed with contemporary leopard cats,” Luo remarked.
Eva-Maria Geigl, a paleogeneticist affiliated with the Jacques Monod Institute at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and uninvolved in the research, conveyed to Live Science that the findings mirrored the domestication pathway of cats around the Mediterranean basin. “It constitutes a commensal rapport, exploiting the human ecological niche, which was eagerly embraced by Neolithic farmers grappling with rodents and noxious creatures,” she explained to Live Science. “Such felines were not domesticated in the current sense – these indolent animals – rather, they persisted as genuinely wild cats.”
Documentation compiled in China between the fifth and third centuries B.C lends further credence to this association, Luo noted, signifying that individuals welcomed wild cats onto their agricultural land for pest management. This implies that leopard cats may have sustained a link with humans for approximately 3,500 years, she suggested.
Nonetheless, this association ultimately dissolved, marked by an approximate 600-year hiatus separating the last uncovered leopard cats from the preliminary advent of domestic cats in China.
Luo attributed this absence of felines to the Period of Division (A.D. 220 to 589) following the downfall of the Han dynasty and preceding the ascension of the Tang dynasty. This era was characterized by conflict, cooler, drier weather patterns, diminished agricultural productivity, societal instability, and a declining population. A comparable transient decline in the population of black rats (Rattus rattus) occurred in Europe subsequent to the collapse of the Roman Empire.
Luo inferred that the leopard cats likely lost their traditional hunting territories. With the establishment of the Tang dynasty in A.D. 618 and the revival of agriculture and human population, the leopard cats were no longer as welcomed, owing to the increasing popularity of poultry farming.
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Leopard cats continue to bear a negative image for predating on chickens, Luo elucidated, thus making them unwelcome animals. In the southern regions of China, the leopard cat goes by the epithet “chicken-killing tiger,” Luo shared.
Domestic felines have assumed their prior role due to their endearing nature, tameness, and inclination to target smaller prey such as mice and rats rather than chickens, as Luo surmised.
Geigl asserted that the pivotal transformation prompting widespread acceptance of domestic cats likely transpired in Egypt during the first millennium B.C., when cats were bred in temples and congregating numerous felines for feeding, resulting in a genetic mutation that precipitated behavioral shifts. “Such behavior is not typical of a cat. A cat is inherently a territorial solitary creature, the polar opposite of the scenario cultivated by the Egyptians,” she highlighted.
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Chris SimmsLive Science Contributor
Chris Simms is a freelance journalist who previously worked at New Scientist for more than 10 years, in roles including chief subeditor and assistant news editor. He was also a senior subeditor at Nature and has a degree in zoology from Queen Mary University of London. In recent years, he has written numerous articles for New Scientist and in 2018 was shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the Association of British Science Writers awards.
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