Cats are indigenous to every continent save Antarctica. One of the most widespread, adaptable creatures in the world. Housecats are not genetically different from wild cats - they can interbreed and often do.
Hm. Cats come from the Fertile Crescent but that was 10,000 years ago. Since then they've gone everywhere. I wonder when they first came to North America? Was it just hundreds of years ago, or thousands?
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House cats are not indigenous to the majority of the world and certainly not to North America. The robots comment doesn't follow.
Cats are indigenous to every continent save Antarctica. One of the most widespread, adaptable creatures in the world. Housecats are not genetically different from wild cats - they can interbreed and often do.
.. and Australia.
The native species that is closest would be the marsupial "cat" the Tiger Quoll.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_quoll
There was also the Tasmanian Tiger, aka thylacine but they're extinct.
Mountain lions and lynx are indigenous to North America, neither hunt songbirds. House cats are from the Near East.
Bobcat?
Yes, there's those too. Same group as the Lynx. But neither Lynx, Bobcat, nor Mountain Lion are decimating bird populations.
Hm. Cats come from the Fertile Crescent but that was 10,000 years ago. Since then they've gone everywhere. I wonder when they first came to North America? Was it just hundreds of years ago, or thousands?
Domestic cats come from the Fertile Crescent.
The animals they were domesticated from have been present in much of Africa, Asia and Europe for a couple million years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat
Housecats likely came with sailing ships as onboard ratters (the same way they have come to many islands). Lynx, lion, etc are much older.