Of course, you know that tigers and your tabby are related—they’re both cats, after all—but how similar are they, really? To answer that question, we need to start at the very beginning: Both tigers and domestic cats are felids, the family of cats that evolved from insect-eating forest creatures known as miacis millions of years ago. Over eons, the felids split into three subfamilies: the felinae, the machairodoninae, and the pantherines. Domestic cats belong to the felinae family, while tigers are pantherines, or big cats.
Tigers and domestic cats evolved in very different areas: Tigers likely originated in northern China, while your cat evolved in the deserts of the Middle East. Crucially, our house cats’ early ancestors were bold but not aggressive toward humans. Because of their boldness, they weren’t…