Felis catus is another word for the domestic cat or housecat. The small domesticated carnivorous mammal has been valued by humans not only for companionship but also for its unique hunting habits for catching and controlling vermin (term applied to various animals considered by humans as pests of nuisances and especially ones carrying disease.

Human association with the domestic cat dates back at least 9,500 years with some records stated even further. They are currently the most popular cat in the world and, thanks to humans, all over the world.

The rapid breeding, adaptability, and predatory instincts have led them to be classified as an “invasive species” in some areas. The large number of feral cats (cats that are born and live without human contact) are the main cause for such problems. The development of such colonies have occurred with the failure to control breeding of pet cats by spaying and neutering and also abandonment by former household pet owners. Feral cats are a worldwide problem with 60 million in the United States alone.

Felidae is the biological family of the cat and its member family is called felid. It is the strictest of the sixteen mammal families of the Carnivora (meat-eating animal). Felidae includes the domestic cat and other big cats as well.

Their strong, flexible bodies and quick reflexes along with retracting claws and teeth adapted them to killing small prey. Being nocturnal (night) predators, they can locate prey in near darkness with their unique abilities of sight and sound. They can hear sounds too faint for human ears and higher in frequency than humans can perceive. This adaptation came from “tuning in” to the higher sounds of their prey (rodents, small mammals, small reptiles, and birds) who make sounds in these higher frequencies.

They also have ears equipped with more than a dozen muscles that enable them to swivel 180 degrees toward the source of sounds. Cats have a vastly better sense of smell than humans and rely on their smell more than taste.

Although solitary hunters, they are social creatures and have a variety of ways to communicate. Vocalizations such as meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling, and grunting are some of the ways. Pheromones (excreted chemical factors that triggers a social response in member of the same species) and body language are also used in communication.

The hobby of breeding and showing cats as registered pedigree pets is known as “cat fancy”.

The New York Times wrote an article stating that even though cats were commonly believed to have been domesticated in ancient Egypt as a cult animal, studies have found the lines of the domestic house cat dating back as far as 8000 BC in the Near East from five self-domesticating African Wildcats (Felis silvestris lybica). The earliest direct evidence being a kitten buried with its owner 9,500 years ago in Cyprus.

Article source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat

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