Are cats really mini lions? Here is how they relate

When you observe your cat's behavior, the resemblance to big cats seems undeniable. Even small pets behave as if they were huge tigers or even lions.

According to historians, the first wild cats were domesticated by the ancient Egyptians about 4,000 years ago. Domestication originally happened because humans simply couldn’t fight the many pests. Thus, cats were primarily domesticated by humans to protect against rats and similar pests and to protect their food.

In the wake of evolutionary changes

In order to understand why cats are so similar to lions, it is worth knowing the research that directly concludes that domestic cats are actually descendants of lions and tigers, the descendants of early carnivores called miacids. These big cats are thought to have evolved into the three main species of modern wild cats – the European wildcat, the African wildcat, and the Asiatic wildcat. Zoologists believe that the general characteristics of domestic cats indicate descent from the African wildcat. Moreover, the researchers noticed that the behavior and personality traits of domestic cats are extremely similar to the characteristic features of African lions.

Are cats really mini lions?

Recent research by scientists from the Bronx Zoo and the University of Edinburgh has drawn many fascinating parallels between the behavior of domestic cats and their wild relatives. During the study, they examined the Wildcat, Clouded leopard, Snow leopard, and the African lion. They thoroughly compared the most specific personality traits and lifestyles of these animals. And based on this, they came to the conclusion that domestic cats mostly showed the same traits as African lions.

How the did it

The study was conducted in such a way that each species was assigned a personality type from the widely used five-factor model. The psychometric classification system is usually used by mental health professionals to properly categorize human personalities. But in this case they tried to apply this scheme to the behavior of these cats. Thus, the researchers adapted the given model to the characteristics of cats. Interestingly, the domestic cat showed the same dominance, impulsivity and neuroticism as the African lion. So it’s very likely that there could be some kind of relation between the two species. The results of the research were published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, which attracted huge interest worldwide.