So that's why my cats behave the way they do

A story in the BBC News reports that a new cat family tree is revealed. Based on DNA studies, it turns out modern cats have their roots in Asia 11 million years ago. From the article,

It turns out that the domestic cat is most closely related to the wild cats of Africa, Europe and China.

"You can take a look at your cat, that you share so much of your life with, and imagine that in the relatively recent evolutionary past, it was connected and related to species such as the European wild cat," Dr Johnson told the BBC News website.

"We now have a much better idea of where the domestic cat fits in with all of the 36 wild species and what ecological and geographical events led to the development of each one of these species," he added.

"Through that we have a much better understanding of what makes a domestic cat a cat and what evolutionary event distinguished the domestic cat from its ancestor and what it retains today."

I have certainly looked at my cats. I know to an extent those two ladies, Autumn and Isis, are the queens of their domain, that they just tolerate us. I always find it amusing, heck fascinating, when they pounce at objects or chase each other. The way they can be so patient, their tails just moving so, you know she is just waiting to pounce on some prey. They may be known as domestic cats, but I still see a lot of the wild side.