Domestic cats found in wreckage of Spanish conquistador ship were likely first in US

Cats live together with people for thousands of years, and the remains of two local Makar found in almost 500-year-old Spanish shipwreck They probably represent the earliest example of an animal in the current United States, according to a new study.

“Cats followed sailors on ships where they relied on rats and mice hunting that had infected the ship’s holds,” researchers wrote in a study published in American antiquity last month.

Emanuel Point II, Spanish Brod Konquistador, destroyed in Florida’s Pensacol Bay in 1559 during a hurricane.

The shipwreck was discovered in 2006, and researchers said the remains of an adult and juvenile cat were found in the wreck.

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“Cats got a limited Archeological attention Because their independence limits direct insight into human societies, “the researchers said.

The study said the analyzes of two cats and other historical cats show pets It ranged dramatically from normal cats to much smaller.

Researchers wrote that, based on chemical analysis of the remnants, the adult cat does not relieve food rats and mostly dishes diet of fish and possibly homemade meat.

“These pests were unintentionally introduced to the new world, and cats would follow, hunting both domestic and invasive pests,” the Stakori study said.

In the US, the early remains of cats were found in colonial settlements in St. Augustine in Florida and the British colony of Jamestown in Virginia and may have been on the ship of Mayflower.

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Cats are not originally from the USA, and they are believed to have arisen from the Middle East before Europeans brought them to America. They were probably introduced to Europe to control pests, scientists said.

Researchers said they were not sure if the cats on Emanuel were brought to the ship intentionally, but study co -author John Bratten, anthropologist at Western Florida University, said Live Science that the cats had obviously ate a similar diet as a sailors, which showed that there were not enough rats or out.

“It was interesting to think about the idea that the cat was a pet or the one watching Spanish sailors,” Bratten told Live Science.

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Study said “that cats were on board [the Emanuel Point II] It suggests that their primary role may have been the comedian Ratteri and Moses who controlled the rodent population in Brod. However, this does not exclude the possibility that these cats loved and worried these cats. ”

The cats were also considered lucky, the researchers added.

Today, one of the three American households has a pet cat.