The only domesticated member of the cat family. Cats were first tamed from the African wildcat in the Near East around 7500 BCE, and there are now an estimated 600 million worldwide.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?Yes
Awake when?Night
Cats are crepuscular, most active around dawn and dusk, though pet cats partly adjust to their owners’ hours.
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?Commonly
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inWorldwide
HabitatTowns, Farmland
ColoursBlack, White, Ginger, Grey, Tabby
SizeSmall
LengthAbout 46 cm, plus a tail of about 30 cm
Height23–25 cm at the shoulder
WeightTypically 4–5 kg
Legs4
Covered inFur
Lives alone
Lives for12–18 years
Can swim
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Worldwide alongside people, and as feral cats living wild, which have driven declines in native birds, mammals and reptiles.
- What it eats
- An obligate carnivore that needs a mainly meat diet. A solitary hunter of small prey such as mice and rats.
Did you know
Purring sits in a frequency range linked to healing bone.
It can hear sounds too faint or too high-pitched for human ears, such as those made by small mammals.
Often confused with
- Wildcat
A European wildcat is bigger and more heavily built, with a bushy, blunt tail ringed with two or three black bands and a black tip.
Sources
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