Luo Shujin's research group and team from the School of Life Sciences and the Joint Center for Life Sciences of Peking University published a paper in Cell Genomics. Through ancient DNA research, they finally clarified the five thousand years of "cat-licking history" of the Chinese people.
Research has found that Chinese domestic cats are not native to the country;The domesticated African wild cats introduced through the Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty,For as long as 3,500 years ago, ancient Chinese people actually lived with leopard cats. After the introduction of domestic cats, they quickly replaced the ocelot ecological niche and became the main companion animal.
It is reported that cats have been raised since ancient times. Cats began to be raised as domestic animals in the ancient Egyptian era of 5,000 years ago. African wild cats are considered to be the ancestors of domestic cats. Because they prey on mice that damage crops, cats are loved by humans, so they began to be raised.
From the perspective of the history of biological evolution, cats have a longer history than humans. Before the Han Dynasty, China only had wild cats, namely the lynx mentioned in "Historical Records", or the leopard cat in "The Book of Songs" "There are bears and bears, cats and tigers".
At present, domestic cats are widely distributed around the world. They have a good temperament and are easy to be loved by their owners. They love to be clean and often bury their feces. They are good at climbing tree trunks. They like to eat fish and other fishy foods. When hunting, they often hide and wait for a sudden attack.