15 Mind-Blowing Cat Facts You Need To Know

Alongside the likes of dogs, hamsters, and rabbits, cats are one of the most popular domestic animals to own. It was originally thought that the felines became domesticated by the Egyptians, though this myth was debunked in 2004. As it turns out, domestic cats had existed for quite some time before the Egyptians had anything to say about them.

In fact, they existed a whole 9,500 years prior. For all you statistics fanatics out there, that's approximately 3,467,500 days, give or take a few days depending on leap years. Quite a long period of time.

A team of French archaeologists, led by Jean-Denis Vigne of the National Museum of Natural History, made the discovery on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus a decade and a half ago, finding the cat remains alongside those of a human buried with some seashells, stones, and other artefacts. The team noted that there was clearly some form of a strong relationship between the cat and the human it was buried with, while also noting it was more than likely the oldest pet cat to have ever lived.

Quite the amazing find from Vigne's team - definitely a fact that makes you have a deep think about where your own cat's ancestors may have come from.