From Wild Animals To Domestic Pets, An Evolutionary View
Artificial selection is the selection of advantageous natural variation for human ends and is the mechanism by which most domestic species evolved. Most domesticates have their origin in one of a few historic centers of domestication as farm animals. Two notable exceptions are cats and dogs. Wolf domestication was initiated late in the Mesolithic when humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers… The first domestic cats had limited utility and initiated their domestication among the earliest agricultural Neolithic settlements in the Near East. [Description excerpted from article]
Artificial selection is an unnatural process that manifests itself as the domestication of animals. Exploiting the genetics of plants and animals has given humans the leading role in the evolutionary process; 4.9 billion hectares of land are used for agriculture and, worldwide, animal species are facing extinction at a rate that is 100-1,000 times faster than the historical rates due to habitat loss. No domesticated animals have ever become extinct.
Artificial selection can be both weak or strong. In the weak form, selection pressure is applied postzygotically and natural selection proceeds from this baseline, yielding a higher level of control over the species. In the strong form, selection is prezygotic and postzygotic, resulting in a dramatic acceleration of the evolutionary process and a greater level of control over the organism.
Research on the domestication of dogs shows that the domestication process was likely started in the Near East or in Central Europe. Wolf domestication originated more than 14,000 years ago during the nomadic period. These animals were likely integrated into the humans sphere in an effort to assist hunters.
Cats, on the other hand, were not likely involved in any agricultural processes but rather “tolerated” by people over time, gradually changing from their more wild relatives, a product of natural selection.
http://www.pnas.org/content/106/Supplement_1/9971