Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)

Jean-Denis Vigne; Allowen Evin; Thomas Cucchi; Lingling Dai; Chong Yu; Songmei Hu; Nicolas Soulages; Weilin Wang; Zhouyong Sun; Jiangtao Gao; Keith Dobney; Jing Yuan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147295

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Research Article

Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)

Jean-Denis Vigne ,

* E-mail: vigne@mnhn.fr

Affiliation Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 7209, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, CP 56, Paris, France
⨯
Allowen Evin,

Current address: Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, CC 61, Place Eugène Bataillon, Montpellier, France

Affiliations Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 7209, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, CP 56, Paris, France, Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, St Mary's, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
⨯
Thomas Cucchi,

Affiliations Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 7209, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, CP 56, Paris, France, Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, St Mary's, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
⨯
Lingling Dai,

Affiliations Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 7209, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, CP 56, Paris, France, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
⨯
Chong Yu,

Affiliations Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 7209, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, CP 56, Paris, France, Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, St Mary's, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
⨯
Songmei Hu,

Affiliation Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an, China
⨯
Nicolas Soulages,

Affiliation Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 7209, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, CP 56, Paris, France
⨯
Weilin Wang,

Affiliation Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an, China
⨯
Zhouyong Sun,

Affiliation Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an, China
⨯
Jiangtao Gao,

Affiliation Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Science, Beijing, China
⨯
Keith Dobney,

Affiliation Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, St Mary's, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
⨯
Jing Yuan

Affiliation Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Science, Beijing, China
⨯

Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)

Jean-Denis Vigne,
Allowen Evin,
Thomas Cucchi,
Lingling Dai,
Chong Yu,
Songmei Hu,
Nicolas Soulages,
Weilin Wang,
Zhouyong Sun,
Jiangtao Gao

Published: January 22, 2016
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147295

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Alternative hypothesis

Posted by lfortini on 29 Jan 2016 at 07:13 GMT

After traveling for many years in rural parts of the tropics, first thing that came to my mind when I read the study above is the very common practice of rural people in the amazon to keep caught wild animals tied outside/ inside theirs houses as 'pets'.
Usually these animals are caught when young (either because they are naive or because their parents were hunted) and don't survive very long as they are not given the proper diet for them to survive.
The evidence presented in your paper along with the fact that no other evidence of domestication of the leopard cat is known, makes this alternative hypothesis quite a possible alternative.

No competing interests declared.

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Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)

Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)

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Alternative hypothesis

Posted by lfortini on 29 Jan 2016 at 07:13 GMT