{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='DNA shows early spread of cats in human world' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d4a1d8eafeecae1f4336' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d4a1d8eafeecae1f4336' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nDNA shows early spread of cats in human world\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eLEAD-IN:Long before cats became the darlings of Facebook and Twitter, they were companions to people in the ancient world.Now a DNA study is reaching back thousands of years to track the spread of cats across ancient human civilisations....\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eLEAD-IN:Long before cats became the darlings of Facebook and Twitter, they were companions to people in the ancient world.Now a DNA study is reaching back thousands of years to track the spread of cats across ancient human civilisations. STORYLINE:Humans have a complex relationship with cats: sometimes affectionate and often mutually beneficial. It's a relationship that dates back millennia to the ancient world. French researcher Eva-Maria Geigl is head of research at the French National Research Center (CNRS) who runs a research group at the Jacques Monod Institute in Paris.She and colleagues have conducted DNA analysis that has identified how cats spread through the ancient human world.The researchers analyzed DNA from 209 ancient cats as old as 9,000 years from Europe, Africa and Asia, including some ancient Egyptian cat mummies and also 28 modern feral cats from Bulgaria and east Africa. It's the latest glimpse into the complicated story of domesticated cats, who are descendants of wild ancestors that learned to live with people and became relatively tame.  The domestication process may have begun around 10,000 years ago when people settled in the Fertile Crescent, the arch-shaped region that includes the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and land around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They stored grain, which drew rodents, which in turn attracted wild cats explains Geigl. \"It were (was) the first farmers that invented agriculture, and this means they accumulated grains, probably more and more larger and larger amounts of grains These grains of course attracted rodents and the rodents attracted wild cats.\"Over time, these wild felines adapted to this man-made environment and got used to being around people. \"So it was a commensal (two-way) relationship that started to get established, but it took certainly several thousands of years until the cat really came into a domestic context,\" Geigl adds. A previous study had found a cat buried alongside a human some 9,500 years ago in Cyprus, an island without any native population of felines. That indicates the cat was brought by boat and it had some special relationship to that person, researchers say. Cats were clearly tame by about 3,500 years ago in Egypt, where paintings often placed them beneath chairs. Geigl says that, by this time, \"the cat makes its way to the household.\" The team analysed ancient Egyptian cat mummies as part of their research. Geigl says that the appearance of domesticated cats in Egypt means they had travelled there by sea, in the company of humans. \"Since we know that there was trading contact between Egypt and India during the Roman empire, this again tells us that these cats were ships' cats. So they travelled with the merchants over the sea,\" she explains. The dispersal of the cats across the Mediterranean was probably encouraged by their usefulness in controlling rodents and other pests on ships, the researchers say.Mona Khalil is chairperson of the Egyptian Society of Mercy to Animals (ESMA) in Cairo. She says the fact that the Ancient Egyptians mummified cats shows they held a special status in their society.  \"Ancient Egyptians worshipped cats in large and Egyptian cats specifically was very appreciated to the level of being worshipped and mummified, just like what they did with the Pharaohs themselves, for everything that had value for them.\"It's easier to distinguish dogs, our first domesticated animal, from their wolf ancestors. Dogs evolved from wolves that had begun to associate with people even before farming began, perhaps drawn by the food the humans left behind. The new study tracked the spread of specific cat DNA markers over long distances through time, a sign that people had taken cats with them. Results were released on Monday by the journal Nature Ecology \u0026amp; Evolution. Researchers also looked for a genetic variant that produces the blotchy coat pattern typical of modern-day domestic cats, rather than the tiger-like stripes seen in their wild cousins. It showed up more often in samples from after the year 1300 than earlier ones, which fits with other evidence that the tabby cat markings became common by the 1700s and that people started breeding cats for their appearance in the 1800s. Most of the study focused on the ancient dispersals of cats. In the DNA samples analyzed, one genetic signature found first in the Asian portion of Turkey, and perhaps once carried by some Fertile Crescent cats, showed up more than 6,000 years ago in Bulgaria. That indicates cats had been taken there by boat with the first farmers colonizing Europe, Geigl says. It also appeared more than 5,000 years ago in Romania, as well as around 3,000 years ago in Greece. A second genetic signature, first seen in Egypt, had reached Europe between the first and fifth centuries, as shown by a sample from Bulgaria. It was found in a seventh-century sample from a Viking trading port in northern Europe, and an eighth-century sample from Iran. Molecular biologist Thierry Grange explains the difference between the African wild cat (Felis Silvestris Lybica), some of which became domesticated in ancient times, and the European wild cat (Felis Silvestris Silvestris), which did not become domesticated. \"Here you see the African wild cat, the species that has been domesticated. You find it in Africa and in the Middle East. And this is the European wild cat, more robust and big.\" Geigl says that an earlier study indicated that all domestic cats originated \"from the wild cat in Northern Africa and South West Asia. This is the Lybica, so Felis Silvestris Lybica, whereas in Europe, you have Felis Silvestris Silvestris and this is not the cat that was domesticated.\"Le Parc des Felins at Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux east of Paris is home to a variety of cats, including the European wild cat (Felis Silvestris Silvestris), which did not become domesticated. Zoo keeper, Aurelie Roudel says that cats would eat vermin, meaning people encouraged the relationship to protect food stores. \"The cats lived close to the humans, merchants and armies and so on, in order to guard the food resources and to chase rats and mice.\"Cairo, Egypt - 18 June 2017 1. Various of feral kitten  Paris, France  - 16 June 2017 2. Exterior of Paris Diderot University that houses the Jacques Monod Institute 3. Set up Eva-Maria Geigl working in lab coat 4. Close up of cat bones 5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eva-Maria Geigl, Head of Research, National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS): \"It were (was) the first farmers that invented agriculture, and this means they accumulated grains, probably more and more, larger and larger amounts of grains and these grains of course attracted rodents and the rodents attracted wild cats.\"Cairo, Egypt - 18 June 2017 6. Various of feral cats on Cairo's streets Paris, France  - 16 June 2017 7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eva-Maria Geigl, Head of Research, National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS): \"So it was a commensal (two-way) relationship that started to get established, but it took certainly several thousands of years until the cat really came into a domestic context.\"Cairo, Egypt - 18 June 2017 8. Various of street cats eating food left out for them by people Paris, France  - 16 June 2017 9. Various of Geigl scraping a cat bone 10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eva-Maria Geigl, Head of Research, National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS): \"So we had from archaeology two indications that there was something going on between humans and cats.\" 11. Zoom in on Geigl scraping a cat bone 12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eva-Maria Geigl, Head of Research, National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS): \"In the second half of the second millennium B.C. you see in the iconography cats under the chair of noble people, the aristocracy, sometimes with the collar, sometimes without, but you see that the cat made it into the household, so into a domestic context.\"Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 5 August 201313. Researcher setting up cat mummy on stand14. Brush cleaning bottom of cat mummy15. Researcher setting up cat mummy on stand16. Wide of Egyptian room in museum with people working in background17. Cat mummy in display cabinet Cairo, Egypt - 18 June 2017 18. Wide of Giza pyramids19. Various of feral cats Paris, France - 16 June 2017 20. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eva-Maria Geigl, Head of Research, National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS): \"Since we know that there was trading contact between Egypt and India during the Roman empire, this again tells us that these cats were ships' cats. So they travelled with the merchants over the sea.\" ASSOCIATED PRESSCairo, Egypt - June 18 2017 21. Various of cats in Esma cat and dogs shelter in Cairo22. Set up Mona Khalil, chairperson of the Egyptian society of mercy to animals (ESMA)23. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mona Khalil, chairperson of the Egyptian society of mercy to animals (ESMA): \"Ancient Egyptians worshipped cats in large and Egyptian cats specifically was very appreciated to the level of being worshipped and mummified just like what they did with the Pharaohs themselves for everything that had value for them.\"24. Various of cats in Esma cat and dogs shelter in CairoParis, France  - 16 June 2017 25. Set up of Thierry Grange, molecular biologist and deputy scientific director, National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS)26. Grange showing photos on a computer screen of the Felis Silvestris Lybica (ancestor of cats that have been domesticated) and of Felis Silvestris Silvestris, the European wild cat that has not been domesticated UPSOUND: (French) Thierry Grange, molecular biologist and deputy scientific director, National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS):\"Here you see the African wild cat, the species that has been domesticated. You find it in Africa and in the Middle East. And this is the European wild cat, more robust and big.\" 27. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eva-Maria Geigl, Head of Research, National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS): \"The last evidence came from genetics, from modern genetics, a study 10 years ago on modern cat populations where also the mitochondrial DNA was analyzed and it was seen that all domestic cats originate from the wild cat in Northern Africa and South West Asia. This is the Lybica, so Felis Silvestris Lybica, whereas in Europe, you have Felis Silvestris Silvestris and this is not the cat that was domesticated.\"Le Parc des Félins, Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux, France - 17 June 2017 28. Sign with inscription (in 8 languages): European wildcat (Felis Silvestris Silvestris - which was not domesticated) 29. Zoo keeper Aurelie Roudel walking in cat box 30. Close up of Felis Silvestris Silvestris cat, or European wildcat (which was not domesticated) 31. SOUNDBITE: (French) Aurelie Roudel, Zoo Keeper, Le Parc des Félins, Nesles, France \"The cats lived close to the humans, merchants and armies and so on, in order to guard the food resources and to chase rats and mice.\"32. 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