NDaveT

NDaveT t1_j8n3vzn wrote

The ancestor of domestic cats is the [African wildcat] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_wildcat), which still exists in the wild in Africa. There's a closely related subspecies, the Asiatic wildcat, that lives in Asia.

There are other small wild cat species, including the very similar European wildcat and the smaller sand cat.

You don't see them much because they are mostly active at night and spend a lot of their time hiding from their prey and from predators. And they're not exotic enough to make documentaries about.

In domestic cats, the tabby coloring is the most similar to their wild relatives. Other color patterns are variations that wouldn't provide adequate camouflage in the wild.

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