One of the most common domestic animals is Felis catus, also known as the cat. Cats, by most, are known as cuddly creatures with four legs and a tail. But what makes a cat a cat? Cats have many names and come in all kinds of colors, shapes and sizes. These adorable animals have an exceptionally long history dating back to around 7500 BC. This leads to the question: how did we get to what we know today as the domestic cat? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Cats are domesticated carnivores weighing five to twenty pounds. The average length of a cat is about twenty-eight inches and no matter the breed of the cat, they all belong to the same species. Cats are known for their hunting skills: “Domestic cats are natural hunters capable of stalking prey and pouncing with sharp claws and teeth” (National Geographic). Another well-known skill of theirs is the way they communicate with other cats by marking different objects such as trees or sofas. Marking occurs when a cat claims a territory by scratching or urinating on it. The history of domestic cats began in the Fertile Crescent, which is now primarily known as Western Asia. People living on farms in these areas store part of their harvest in sheds and this attracts rodents. Due to the large amount of rodents on these farms, cats lived near the farm and preyed on the rodents and garbage produced by humans. Over time, cats have evolved to live closer to humans and have become increasingly domesticated over time. Thanks to cats' hunting skills, they were brought aboard ships to feed on rats and could spread throughout the world. One of the first and best known places where evidence of cats and people living together was found in ancient Egypt. Cats were seen as divine animals. If someone killed a cat the punishment would be death. Furthermore, it was incredibly illegal to remove cats from Egypt: “The export of cats from Egypt was so strictly prohibited that a branch of the government was formed exclusively to deal with this issue. Government agents were sent to other lands to find and return the cats that had been smuggled” (Ancient History Encyclopedia). The goddess Bastet was the keeper of the secrets of women, home, fertility, childbirth, cats and protected people from evil and disease. She was commonly depicted as a cat or a human with a cat's head. Therefore, cats were seen as deviant from the goddess and were worshiped. The safety of cats was considered above the safety of humans. You would put your life at risk to protect a cat. Once a cat died, the cat's owners would often mourn by shaving their eyebrows as a sign of respect. The corpses would then be taken to the city of Bubastis, or another Egyptian city, where they would be embalmed. Typically, cats were mummified and kept with their owners in sacred places, e.g. pyramids or tombs. Once Egypt became a providence of the Roman Empire, cats were also integrated into Roman culture. After cats were introduced to the Romans, they spread throughout Europe. Thousands of years later, cats boarded ships bound for the Americas. Reports stated that Christopher Columbus, as well as the Mayflower, had cats on board. Very different from the treatment given to the Egyptians, cats in the Middle Ages were associated with witchcraft and the devil. The medieval church had spread the idea that cats were born of the devil to denigrate/.