Remains of What Could Be America’s First Domestic Cats Came From a 16th-Century Shipwreck

Cats are such a prominent part of American culture today that it’s hard to imagine the country without them. But our feline friends arrived on our shores more recently than you may assume. As Smithsonian reports, a new study published in the journal American Antiquity links America’s first domestic cats to a 16th-century shipwreck.

The Emanuel Point II met its demise around 1559, when a hurricane hit and sank it near what’s now considered Pensacola Bay, Florida. The Spanish vessel was one of the 11 ships led by the conquistador Tristán de Luna y Arellano. He brought along other colonists, soldiers, enslaved people, and Aztec Indians on his quest to take over the northern Gulf Coast. 

Remains show that one adult and one juvenile cat joined the expedition, possibly befriending the people aboard. The scientists believe this was the case because the full-grown feline appeared to be eating well. After analyzing the cat’s carbon and nitrogen isotopes, the researchers were able to conclude that it ate fish and various meats—a diet likely provided by the sailors.

Although the cats could have secretly boarded the ship, it’s plausible they were brought along for pest control. Seafarers often had cats as shipmates to catch the rats and mice, which would otherwise spread disease and damage the vessel. The adult cat on the Emanuel Point II may have hunted rats, but the evidence shows a “significant proportion” of its diet wasn’t rodents. 

The sailors may have fed the cats to keep them alive after the ship ran out of vermin—or it’s possible they just viewed the animals as companions who deserved the occasional gourmet meal. Either way, the analyzed remains indicate they were America‘s earliest domesticated cats, having arrived 466 years ago.

While keeping pets as cats is a relatively new phenomenon in North America, it’s an ancient practice overall. According to Live Science, archaeological sites in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa show that the first domesticated cats in the world partnered with humans about 10,000 years ago.

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