A species
House cat
Felis catus
The small hunter that moved in with farmers to catch mice.
You and the house cat last shared an ancestor about 95 million years ago (on 23 December, if life's history were one year).
Cats domesticated themselves. They moved in on their own. About 10,000 years ago, when the first farming villages stored grain in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, wildcats moved in to hunt mice and rats. Farmers let them stay as pest controllers. Almost all pet cats today descend from the North African and Near Eastern wildcat.
Your sofa cat is related to wild cats. It belongs to the cat family, so lions, tigers, pumas and cheetahs are distant cousins. The dog beside it on the tree is a more distant relative. Both are carnivorans, but dogs are in the dog family on the dog-like side, while cats are on the cat-like side.
A typical pet is about 70 centimetres long from nose to tail tip, about as long as a tennis racket. It weighs about 2.5 to 7 kilograms. Cats now live with people in homes, farms and cities on every continent except Antarctica. Wild-living cats live outdoors near towns and farms in many countries as well.
Kittens with different fathers
A mother usually has about four kittens in one litter. One litter can have more than one father.
Claws that stay sharp
House cats can pull their claws back into their paws. This keeps the claws sharp for hunting.
Swivelling ears and bendy backs
House cats can swivel their ears like satellite dishes. They have very flexible backs.