Introduction

This is the story of cats in Illinois. It includes both the wild cats native to this land and the newcomer, the domestic cat. This cat story focuses on both their role as predators and their interactions with people. Scientists at the Illinois State Museum have played a part in understanding the history of cats in Illinois and the Midwest.

The cat family, Felidae, originated over 25 million years ago in Eurasia. The earliest cat, Proailurus, was about the size of a bobcat and a good climber. Today, 41 species of cats live around the world. They live in habitats ranging from tropical jungles to snowy mountains to arid deserts. The smallest species, the rusty-spotted cat and the black-footed cat, weigh less than six pounds as adults. The largest species, the Siberian tiger and the African lion, can reach 600 pounds. In the past, some cats were even larger. The American lion, an extinct cat from the Ice Ages, weighed over 1,100 pounds.

People have been fascinated with cats since early times. This human connection crosses many cultures and places. The earliest record of this is seen in European cave paintings and carved figures of lions. They can be dated to around 30,000 years ago. Around 4,000 years ago, cats became common in Egyptian art and religion. Native Americans in the southwestern United States carved mountain lions into rock, creating petroglyphs, over 700 years ago.

Cats are an important part of our lives today. The domestic cat is a common pet around the world. They are a popular subject for artists, writers, and cartoonists, and they often appear in social media. While felines are well-liked, many wild cats are negatively impacted by people. Worldwide threats to wild cats include destruction of the places they live, being killed because they are thought to be dangerous, and being hunted for their fur.

What Makes a Cat a Cat?

Cool Cats of the Ice Ages

The Pleistocene jaguar, also known as the giant jaguar, Panthera onca augusta, lived across much of North America. In fact, jaguars persisted up until the early 1800s in some places. Jaguars today only reach into northern Mexico and, at times, into the southwestern United States. These Pleistocene cats were 15-20% bigger than modern jaguars, with larger feet, longer limbs, and bigger teeth. Like jaguars today, the giant jaguar lived in forested habitats. They did not live in the same habitats with other big cats like the American lion or saber-toothed cats.

How Do We Identify Animal Tracks in the Fossil Record?

Animal footprints can be tricky to identify. This is especially true if the species that made them is extinct. We can turn to living animals for clues. For example, members of the cat family, Felidae, have retractable claws. Generally, there are no claw marks in their tracks. Members of the dog family, Canidae, do leave claw marks.

Scientists from the Illinois State Museum worked on a project studying fossil tracks from large cats found in Missouri caves. They made plaster casts of tracks from modern big cats in zoos to compare with the fossil tracks. One set of cat tracks found in a cave in south-central Missouri (Douglas County) was larger than modern tiger and lion, as well as the extinct saber-toothed cat. Based on this, the tracks were identified as American lion, the largest cat species from North America. A different set of cat tracks, discovered in Berome Moore Cave in Perry County, Missouri, were similar in size to both the jaguar and saber-toothed cat. Fossil remains of jaguar were found in the same cave, indicating that the tracks are most likely from the same species.

Wild Cats Are Survivors

The Wide-Ranging Mountain Lion

The "Comeback Cat"

The Cat That Took Over the World

First Steps

Fifteen to twenty-thousand years ago, tabby-striped wildcats lived across Africa, Asia, and through much of Europe. With the beginnings of agriculture, 11,000 –12,000 years ago in the Middle East, wandering groups of people created permanent settlements. Mice and rats were drawn to stored grains in these new villages. The local wildcats soon followed, attracted by a steady source of food. People let the cats stay because they were useful at killing the rodent pests that were eating their food.

Unlike dogs, as the relationship between cats and humans continued, people did not breed them for specific tasks. The body shape of cats stayed very similar to their wild ancestors. It is difficult to tell from bones alone when the change from wild to domesticated cat happened.

Connecting With Cats

The oldest known connection between people and the domestic cat is a 9,500-year-old burial on the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The skeletons of a person and a cat were found buried close together surrounded by burial objects. In Egypt, artistic images of cats and mummified cat bodies became common around 4,000 years ago. Cats were so important in Egyptian culture they were named an official deity, the goddess Bastet.

As agricultural methods spread, cats followed. Genetic studies show cats from the Middle East moving into southeastern Europe around 6,400 years ago. Despite a ban on taking cats from Egypt, genetics show cats moving from that area into southwest Asia around 2,800 years ago. Cats travelled with people along trade routes by land and by sea. They served as mousers on ships that carried grain and goods around the Mediterranean and to more distant lands. Cat remains dating to the 7th and 8th Centuries CE (Common Era) have been found at a Viking trading port in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea and along the Silk Road in Asia at a site in Kazakhstan.

Cats, Cats, Everywhere

Some distinct cat breeds, like Siamese, Turkish Angora, and Norwegian Forest Cat, developed over time from isolated cat populations. Most modern cat breeds were only established in the last 150 years. In that time there has been an explosion of different color patterns and fur lengths. The Cat Fanciers Association of North America recognizes 45 breeds, but that is only part of the variety seen in over 600 million domestic cats worldwide. From the outskirts of farming villages 10,000 years ago to today’s internet stars, cats have found ways to succeed and spread around the globe, all due to their close connection with the lives of people.