Several thousand years ago in China, cats were attracted to ancient farming villages by small animals, such as rodents that were living on the grain that the farmers grew, ate, and stored. Not yet domesticated, these cats lived close to farmers, and the relationship was mutually beneficial. With the use of radiocarbon dating it was discovered a breed of once-wild cats carved a place for themselves in a society that thrived on the widespread cultivation of grain and that these cats had longer life spans eating less rodents and more scavenged human food. DNA studies suggest that of the estimated 600 million domestic cats now living around the world are offspring most directly of the Near Eastern Wildcat (Felis sylvestris lybica).
