Two very different pets
Cats (left, orange) and dogs (right, blue) share our homes, but they come from different wild ancestors and evolved different ways of living. Each row in the middle compares one trait.
Where they came from
Dogs came from wolves more than 15,000 years ago, tamed by hunters. Cats came from the African wildcat about 10,000 years ago, drawn to the mice in early farmers' grain stores.
Loner or team player
Cats are solitary hunters that guard their own territory. Dogs are pack animals that cooperate, follow social ranks and treat their human family as their pack.
Eyes versus nose
Cats hunt at dusk and see well in very dim light. Dogs read the world mostly by smell, with a nose tens of times more sensitive than ours.
What's for dinner
Cats are strict carnivores and need meat to survive. Dogs adapted to life with farmers and can digest starch, so they eat a much wider diet.
Different, not better
Neither animal wins: the cat is an independent night hunter, the dog a social partner. Their differences trace straight back to their ancestors and how they came to live with us.