Like Angora and Van cats, the Anatolian cat is considered an aboriginal, natural breed, formed in the conditions of the alpine lake Van, located in the Armenian Highlands in Turkey. According to recent research by groups of geneticists from the United States, for the second time feral cats from the population living in Eastern Anatolia in modern Turkey are descendants of the oldest domesticated cats. That is, the domestication of the cat took place in this region, not in Egypt, as previously thought.