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Cat science quiz with answer key

By the MeowWise team · Published · Last reviewed

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Ten multiple choice questions for middle and high school students, with an answer key on a separate printed page. Each answer names the peer reviewed paper it comes from, so the quiz doubles as a short introduction to reading scientific evidence. Full citations are on the research page.

Quiz

Name:

  1. Genetic studies show that domestic cats descend from which wildcat?
    A. European wildcat   B. Near Eastern wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica)   C. Chinese desert cat   D. Southern African wildcat
  2. The oldest known evidence of a close bond between people and cats is a cat buried near a human about 9,500 years ago. Where?
    A. Egypt   B. China   C. Cyprus   D. Italy
  3. An ancient DNA study found that cats spread across the ancient world in two waves. Which populations contributed?
    A. Near Eastern and Egyptian cats   B. Only Egyptian cats   C. Only European wildcats   D. Asian and American cats
  4. Why are cats indifferent to sugar?
    A. Sugar smells bad to them   B. One gene needed for the sweet taste receptor is a broken pseudogene   C. They have no taste buds   D. Sugar is toxic to them
  5. A 1987 study linked a form of heart failure in cats to low levels of which nutrient?
    A. Vitamin C   B. Calcium   C. Taurine   D. Glucose
  6. The folded ears of Scottish Fold cats, and the bone and cartilage disorder that comes with them, are associated with a variant in which gene?
    A. TRPV4   B. MYBPC3   C. Tas1r2   D. PKD1
  7. Breeding Scottish Folds for folded ears is an example of:
    A. Natural selection   B. Artificial selection   C. Genetic drift   D. Mutation caused by the environment
  8. In a laboratory study, cats heard sounds from 48 Hz up to about:
    A. 20 kHz   B. 45 kHz   C. 85 kHz   D. 200 kHz
  9. In experiments, cats were more likely to approach an unfamiliar person who:
    A. Stared at them   B. Slow blinked at them   C. Clapped   D. Ignored them completely
  10. Comparing the cat genome with other mammals, scientists found that cats have more genes for detecting pheromones but fewer for:
    A. Vision   B. Hearing   C. Detecting odors   D. Digesting fat

Bonus (short answer): Variants in the MYBPC3 gene have been studied in Maine Coon and Ragdoll cats. What heart disease are they linked to, and why might breeders test for them?

Answer key

  1. B. Driscoll and colleagues (2007) tested 979 domestic cats and wildcats and concluded that cats were domesticated in the Near East.
  2. C. Vigne and colleagues (2004) described the burial at Shillourokambos, a Neolithic village on Cyprus.
  3. A. Ottoni and colleagues (2017): both Near Eastern and Egyptian Felis silvestris lybica populations contributed to the domestic cat gene pool at different times.
  4. B. Li and colleagues (2005): the cat Tas1r2 gene has a deletion and stop codons and is not expressed, so a working sweet receptor cannot form.
  5. C. Pion and colleagues (1987): taurine supplementation was associated with normal heart function returning.
  6. A. Gandolfi and colleagues (2016) associated a TRPV4 variant with the dominantly inherited folded ears and osteochondrodysplasia of Scottish Folds.
  7. B. People choose which cats breed for a desired trait (see NGSS MS-LS4-5).
  8. C. Heffner and Heffner (1985), for sounds at 70 dB SPL, one of the broadest hearing ranges among mammals.
  9. B. Humphrey and colleagues (2020), Scientific Reports.
  10. C. Montague and colleagues (2014) described a trade off: an expanded system for detecting pheromones at the expense of odorant detection.
  11. Bonus: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a disease in which the heart muscle thickens. Longeri and colleagues (2013) studied the worldwide frequency of these variants and their link with heart scans. Testing lets breeders know which cats carry a variant before breeding.

Sources

  1. Driscoll C.A. et al. (2007) The Near Eastern origin of cat domestication. Science 317(5837):519 to 523
  2. Vigne J.D. et al. (2004) Early taming of the cat in Cyprus. Science 304(5668):259
  3. Ottoni C. et al. (2017) The palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world. Nature Ecology and Evolution 1:0139
  4. Li X. et al. (2005) Pseudogenization of a sweet-receptor gene accounts for cats' indifference toward sugar. PLoS Genetics 1(1):27 to 35
  5. Pion P.D. et al. (1987) Myocardial failure in cats associated with low plasma taurine: a reversible cardiomyopathy. Science 237(4816):764 to 768
  6. Gandolfi B. et al. (2016) A dominant TRPV4 variant underlies osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish fold cats. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage 24(8):1441 to 1450
  7. Heffner R.S. and Heffner H.E. (1985) Hearing range of the domestic cat. Hearing Research 19(1):85 to 88
  8. Humphrey T. et al. (2020) The role of cat eye narrowing movements in cat-human communication. Scientific Reports 10:16503
  9. Montague M.J. et al. (2014) Comparative analysis of the domestic cat genome reveals genetic signatures underlying feline biology and domestication. PNAS 111(48):17230 to 17235
  10. Longeri M. et al. (2013) Myosin-binding protein C DNA variants in domestic cats (A31P, A74T, R820W) and their association with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. J Vet Intern Med 27(2):275 to 285

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APA (7th ed.)
MeowWise. (2026, October 8). Cat science quiz with answer key. https://meowwise.com/teachers/cat-quiz.html

MLA (9th ed.)
“Cat science quiz with answer key.” MeowWise, Joshua Israel Ventures LLC, 8 Oct. 2026, meowwise.com/teachers/cat-quiz.html.

Chicago (bibliography)
MeowWise. “Cat science quiz with answer key.” Joshua Israel Ventures LLC. Last modified October 8, 2026. https://meowwise.com/teachers/cat-quiz.html.