| Scientists classify living organisms into different | | | | Order: Carnivora |
| kingdoms, family, and orders to study more about | | | | Suborder: Feliformia |
| them. Although, most people do not get into such | | | | Family: Felidae |
| details, but certain individuals who love cats, will | | | | Subfamily: Felinate/Pantherinae |
| definitely want to know the scientific classification of | | | | Species: Felis catus |
| cats. | | | | Cats such as domestic cats, Pumas, cheetahs, lynx, |
| However, before that here is little history about | | | | ocelot, and others come into Subfamily Felinae |
| classifications. In nineteenth century, there was this | | | | whereas large cats such as leopards, jaguars, lions, |
| huge craze to classify the organisms scientifically. | | | | and tigers come in subfamily Pantherinae. |
| During that era, researchers identified numerous | | | | Long before the scientists assigned scientific |
| species and subspecies. They named the organisms | | | | classification for cats, ancient travelers and cat lovers |
| by their own name or by the name of traveler, who | | | | had already classified them into subspecies. It usually |
| bought them from different regions. Accordingly, cats | | | | depended on the notion that the particular cat type |
| were no exception and researchers classified them | | | | was representative of the main phenotype of cat in |
| too. | | | | the area. |
| Below is a detailed description of the scientific | | | | This method was same as that of Victorian love of |
| classification of the cats. To start with, the domestic | | | | gathering and classifying the organisms and then |
| cat in the household is commonly referred as Felis | | | | claiming them in certain order. For instance, the |
| Catus. | | | | present day Felis Catus anura is referred as the |
| How Researchers Classified Cats: | | | | Manx, catus Siamensis as Siamese, F catus |
| Life science expert Carouse Linnaes gave the name | | | | cartusenesis as the Chartreux, and F catus |
| Felis Catus to the domestic cat in the year 1758. The | | | | angorensis as Turkish Angora. |
| domestic cats are in fact distant relatives of the wild | | | | About Species: |
| cats. Therefore, domestic cats are the subspecies of | | | | Species are nothing but taxonomic assembling of |
| feral cats. Thus, according to the guidelines of the | | | | animals, which are similar but are readily distinguishable |
| ICZN (International Commission on Zoological | | | | from one another. Although, they appear similar they |
| Nomenclature), wild cats are referred as F silvestris | | | | never crossbreed naturally. |
| and F silvestris catus for the domestic species. | | | | For instance, tigers and cats are of same species but |
| Cats are mammals and represent the vertebrate | | | | they are very different in terms of behavior as well |
| groups. Furthermore, since cats are meat eaters they | | | | as in type, so there is a need to classify them more |
| are placed under carnivores order. The easy and | | | | into subspecies or races. Mammals of a particular |
| scientific tabulation of the cat classification is as | | | | subspecies vary morphologically from distinctive |
| follows: | | | | mammals. |
| Common name: cat, feline, kitty cat, domestic cat, | | | | The domestic cat is actually the offspring of the |
| and pussycat | | | | original African Wildcat. The subspecies of an African |
| Kingdom: Animalia | | | | wildcat is F s lybica. The domestic cats take the place |
| Phylum: Chordata | | | | below F s lybica and become felis catus. All breeds of |
| Class: Mammalia | | | | felis catus interbreed naturally. |