News Animals

Ancient DNA reveals China’s first ‘pet’ cat wasn’t the house cat

The leopard cat pounced on ancient Chinese mice long before the house cat arrived

A closeup of an artifact found in an ancient tomb includes a depiction of a cat with tall fluffy ears, claws visible, some spots in its black back and a striped tail, reminiscient of a leapard cat.

This closeup image of an artifact found in a tomb from the Han dynasty, around 168 B.C. shows a feline that looks like a leopard cat. New research suggests leopard cats might have lived near human settlements and participated in commensalism with humans long before house cats showed up.

Hunan Museum Collection Database

By Bethany Brookshire

This is a human-written story voiced by AI.