Cats are only semi-domesticated

Unlike dogs, which have been domesticated for thousands of years, cats are only semi-domesticated. That's the word from researchers at The Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, who compared the genomes -- that is, the genetic blueprints -- of domestic and wild cats. The surprise finding: There is actual DNA evidence of cats' domestication, compared with their wild cousins, something that really surprised study leader Wes Warren, associate professor of genetics at Wash U. Even though the genome of domestic cats has changed little since their split from wild cats, this new genome mapping shows key areas where the house cat's genome did diverge significantly from their wilder cousins. These include the regions involved in memory, fear and reward-seeking, all of which are thought to play a role in domestication. "Humans most likely welcomed cats because they controlled rodents that consumed their grain harvests," Warren explained. "We hypothesized that humans would offer cats food as a reward to stick around."