Research overview: behavioural correlates of cat domestication

Cat domestication followed an unusual, largely commensal path, and this overview surveys research on the behavioural traits associated with it. It covers reduced fear and aggression toward humans, increased social tolerance enabling colony living, the elaboration of human-directed signals such as the meow and tail-up, and the role of the sensitive socialisation period in producing tameness. It discusses genetic studies identifying loci linked to tameness and fear, and the idea that cats are only semi-domesticated. It connects behaviour to the archaeological and genetic record of cat origins. The topic explains how living alongside humans reshaped feline sociality while leaving predatory behaviour largely intact.