The history of cat domestication

By Stephanie Pappas, Marilyn Perkins – LiveScience

The domestic cat is one of the smallest members of the family Felidae — the group that includes lions, tigers, jaguars and cougars. It is also the only member of that family that has been domesticated.

Cats have lived among humans for thousands of years. They probably started hanging around human grain stores, attracted by mice and other vermin, and eventually spread around the world as sailors brought them aboard ships.