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Proailurus is largely considered to be the first "true" cat and the ancestor of the entire cat family. Most studies support this, placing Proailurus as the basal member of the Felidae. [ 15 ] One 2005 phylogeny placed it as a basal member of the Feliformia, [ 16 ] but later studies do not support this.
Cat species vary greatly in body and skull sizes, and weights: The largest cat species is the tiger (Panthera tigris), with a head-to-body length of up to 390 cm (150 in), a weight range of at least 65 to 325 kg (143 to 717 lb), and a skull length ranging from 316 to 413 mm (12.4 to 16.3 in).
Homotherini (Machairodontini) is a tribe (or subtribe) [1] of saber-toothed cats of the family Felidae (true cats). The tribe is commonly known as scimitar-toothed cats.These saber-toothed cats were endemic to North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America [2] from the Miocene to Pleistocene living from c. 23 Ma until c. 12,000 years ago. [3]
Feliform evolutionary timeline. All modern carnivorans, including cats, evolved from miacoids, which existed from approximately 66 to 33 million years ago.There were other earlier cat-like species but Proailurus (meaning "before the cat"; also called "Leman's Dawn Cat"), which appeared about 30 million years ago, is generally considered the first "true cat".
The fact that small cats have an ERV where the larger cats do not suggests that the gene was inserted into the ancestor of the small cats after the larger cats had diverged. [35] Another example of this is with humans and chimps. Humans contain numerous ERVs that comprise a considerable percentage of the genome.
A Sphynx cat, one of the cat breeds resulting from human breeding practices during the last century and a half. In 1871 only five cat breeds were recognized by an association in London. Today the USA based Cat Fanciers Association (CFA) recognizes 41 breeds [20] and The International Cat Association (TICA) recognizes 57 breeds. [21]
As of 2017, the domestic cat was the second most popular pet in the United States, with 95.6 million cats owned [198] [199] and around 42 million households owning at least one cat. [200] In the United Kingdom , 26% of adults have a cat, with an estimated population of 10.9 million pet cats as of 2020.
The lower cladogram is based on a study by Davis et al. (2010) [17] and by Mazák et al. (2011). [1] In 2018, results of a phylogenetic study on living and fossil cats were published. This study was based on the morphological diversity of the mandibles of saber-toothed cats, their speciation and extinction rates. [94]