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They report in in BMC Evolutionary Biology that mitochondrial DNA ties most Australian populations to Europe, while those on islands close to Asia, such as Christmas Island, share more heritage with Asian cats.ĭr Peter Spencer from Murdoch University lead a team which analysed short tandem repeat (STR) genomic markers, which are prone to mutation, in 830 cats. Two separate studies analysed the genomes of feral cats from around Australia to determine whether Australian populations are related to Asian cats or came from European stock, and when they arrived.Īlthough most evidence suggests that cats arrived with early European settlers, it is possible that some animals came ashore from shipwrecks off Western Australia around 1600, arrived with Malaysian fishermen in northern Australia from about 1650, or even arrived with the dingo around 4,500 years ago.Ī team led by Dr Katrin Koch from the Senkenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt compared the genomes of 266 feral cats from the Australian mainland and six of its islands to cats from European and south-east Asian populations. Feral cats in Australia are descended from animals that arrived after European settlement, confirming their devastating impact on local wildlife, researchers say.