Did cats come with the Vikings to conquer the world?

According to scientists, thousands of years before beginning to live about 37% of residents in the United States, along with the development of the number of dogs to nearly 75 million children worldwide, the cat used to run on continents with farmers, ancient sailors, and even Vikings.

The following study contributes to shedding light on the development history of cats.

In the first large-scale study of ancient cat DNA, the results showed that our 'mysterious friend' was domesticated in the Near East and Egypt about 15,000 years ago, before being distributed the world and occupies an important place in our daily lives.

Cats were domesticated in the Near East and Egypt about 15,000 years ago

The study was presented at the 2016 International Scientific Conference on Biological Molecular Archeology in Oxford, England, and arranged the DNA order of 209 species of cats that lived between 15,000 and 3,700 years ago - before the agriculture developed to the 18th century.

Found in more than 30 archeological sites in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, these ancient cat experiments are helping researchers assemble a picture of the beginning of a close animal with people we know very little about.

Eva Maria Geigl, an evolutionary geneticist from the research team from the Jacques Monod Research Institute, told Ewen Callaway of Nature: 'We don't know the history of ancient cats. We do not know their origin, do not know how they are distributed '.

Analysis of cat DNA found in ancient Egyptian tombs, burial sites in Cyprus, and an old Viking settlement in Germany, the team found that the cat was likely to have gone through not only one, but two waves of development in its early history.

The first wave is the story you may find quite familiar.

When the team observed mitochondrial DNA - genetic information transmitted only from mother to child - they found that feral cats from the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean are fertile with the same mitochondrial lineage.

This shows that small wild cats develop together with early agricultural communities, attracted by rats that eat grain and destroy crops. The farmers are very pleased with the presence of cats because of their ability to skillfully kill rats so become 'close and very cute friends ' of humans.

Thousands of years later, the study shows a separate catalytic relationship between cats derived from Egypt and cats originating in Eurasia and Africa.

Callaway affirmed: 'A popular mitochondrial line in Egyptian cat mummies from the end of the 4th century TCB to the 4th century SCN has also appeared in cats in Bulgaria, Turkey and sub-Saharan Africa at about the same time. that time'.

Cats are close friends of humans but we know very little about them.

The second wave expanded the distribution of cats due to ancient seafarers - farmers, sailors, and Vikings - putting cats on board so that the species that rode the ships were often annoying.

Geigl cites evidence of cat remains with the same DNA link found in a Viking location in northern Germany, and dates back to the middle of the 8th-11th century AD.

Pontus Skoglund, a genetic geneticist from Harvard Medical School, did not participate in the study, told Nature: 'I don't even know there is a Viking cat.'

Note that these are the initial findings of the research team, and may change as a more in-depth analysis. But that is an expectant prospect, because while it is quite clear that the history of domesticated dogs, we are just beginning to learn about the mystery behind our cat friends.