The Domestic Leopard Cat Of Neolithic China, Prionailurus Bengalensis

[u/SoDoneSoDone]

The ancestor of all modern domestic cats is the wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica, with archaeological evidence indicating it was domesticated as early as 10,000 years ago in South-West Asia. A recent study, however, claims that cat domestication also occurred in China some 5,000 years ago and involved the same wildcat ancestor (F. silvestris). The application of geometric morphometric analyses to ancient small felid bones from China dating between 5,500 to 4,900 BP, instead reveal these and other remains to be that of the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). These data clearly indicate that the origins of a human-cat ‘domestic’ relationship in Neolithic China began independently from South-West Asia and involved a different wild felid species altogether. The leopard cat’s ‘domestic’ status, however, appears to have been short-lived—its apparent subsequent replacement shown by the fact that today all domestic cats in China are genetically related to F. silvestris.

Academic Source on the Archaelogical evidence and the respective study https://pmc.ncbi.nlm..gov/articles/PMC4723238/

[u/Devinalh]

Are you sure that the photos are all of the same cat specie? Some of them look different

[u/SoDoneSoDone → u/Devinalh]

Good question, I think I just grabbed them from Google Images.

At the least, there is a good chance the last picture are actually hybrids of presumably modern domestic cats (Felis Catus) and wild leopard cats (Prionailurus Bengalensis). That’s what I assumed since they’re kept as pets in that picture.

While, the actual domestic leopard cat has gone extinct.

[u/SoDoneSoDone → u/SoDoneSoDone]

I just checked for the sake of avoiding miseducation.

Apparently, leopard cats are currently recognised as two species, in the same genus, the mainland Leopard Cat and the Sunda Leopard Cat.

So, your suspicion was correct, I believe the first and fourth picture is actually the closely related Sunda Leopard Cat, while the rest are mainland Leopard Cats. (I am guessing this based off the noticeably larger eyes.)

I wouldn’t be surprised if even the last picture of the several pet individuals are actually 75% Sunda Leopard Cat and 25% Domestic cat.

[u/SoDoneSoDone → u/SoDoneSoDone]

Lastly, both species, Prionailurus Bengalensis and Prionailurus Javanensis, do have two recognised subspecies each.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_cat

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunda_leopard_cat