The domestic cat, as we saw above, has large descendants and is a small feline. But it belongs more precisely to the genus Felis and was classified in this way by Carm Von Linné in 1758 , although it was naturally classified as Felis Cactus in the thirtieth edition of Systema naturae.

Its history is quite complex, because the morphology and the aptitudes of this animal, sowed the seeds of doubt among scientists, who classified it sometimes as a species in its own right and sometimes as a subspecies of the Wild Cat. Fortunately, in 2006 , work was carried out on the sex chromosomes and on the mitochondrial DNA of felines while being assimilated to paleontological research demonstrated that the domestic cat diverged during the Pliocene , passing through deserts, forests. and the Mediterranean basin.

In 2007, a second study based on molecules, showed that the domestic cat had a close link with the gloved cat. In fact, this study was carried out on 979 sand cats and wild cats (of which the domestic cat belongs). These two species would have diverged about 130,000 years ago.

As mentioned above, the cat was domesticated several thousand years ago by humans. We know all this thanks to various studies which were carried out such as that of 2004 , which made it possible to demonstrate that the cat was domesticated by humans between 7500 and 7000 BC, since a CNRS team led by Jean Guilaine found the remains of a cat alongside those of a human in a grave in Cyprus.

The discovered cat certainly does not look like the domestic cat we know today, but rather the African wild cat. The notion of domestication is also quite blurry, as the cat seemed rather tame and not domesticated.