This guest video surprised me with the apparently new connection established between cave lions and Atrox.

It’s also a reminder of where we’re headed in the ongoing series of posts on how cats evolved (though I wonder sometimes if I’ll ever get out of the Precambrian!).

Bonus video: This came up while I was searching for a Friday video (actually I had been seeking something on Cerro de los Batallones near Madrid, which has yielded lots of small and large sabercat fossils).

It’s an adorable reminder of where we’re ultimately headed in this series. Cats evolved; that’s a great story in itself. But it’s not the only one.

Today some wild individual cats, like cheetahs, can be tamed, but there is only one species that is truly domesticated (its young are tame, too).

How did this happen? (And aren’t we all glad it did!)

Featured image: Claude Vallette via Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.