The domestic cat is a subspecies of Felis silvestris, a species of cat that is native to Europe, Africa, India, China and parts of the Asia. Human settlements in these regions provided opportunities for cats to catch rodents that were attracted to food stores. Cats were therefore tolerated and encouraged by humans for their purposes of pest control. The presence of these opportunities therefore introduced a selection pressure, which favoured cats that were able to live in close proximity with people and other species, such as the domestic dog, as well as in dense communities of conspecifics. The ability of cats to cope with solitary and group living has enabled this species to achieve an exceptionally large natural geographic distribution. Its association with man has carried it even further to regions where it is not a native species, such as Australia and the Americas, which it has gone on to successfully, colonise. The fact that the cat is relatively small, non-threatening to people, and carries out its hunting behaviour without any human involvement, there has been no need to domesticate cats to the degree that was necessary with other species such as the dog. As a result, most of the natural behaviour of cats remains intact. This poses a challenge in modern suburban environments where pet cats lack the freedom to perform their normal behaviour and may be forced to conform to human expectations of social and feeding behaviour.
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