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[ Alphabetical Listing of Cat Breeds ]
Original Ancestor of the Domestic Cat
The African Wild Cat. (Felis sylvestris Libyca)
The African Wild Cat, also referred as: Caffer Cat, Caffre Cat, Kaffif Cat, and Egyptian Cat, is slightly larger, and has slightly longer legs than the average domestic cat. It is a nocturnal hunter. Rats and mice account for most of its food intake, but it also eats birds, reptiles and insects. Its personality (unlike its European counterpart), general build and markings are all very close to that of the domestic cat.
This cat interbreeds so freely with domestic cats that the pure form of the wild species is nearly extinct, and only survives in very remote areas. The African Wild Cat is generally accepted as being the original ancestor of our modern domestic cat. It was domesticated by the Egyptians, and later was taken by international traders via Greece and Rome, to all parts of the world, It must have also interbred with its fiercer European counterpart, producing a variation of kittens along the way.