inbreeding – Michael Broad

Why does the Scottish Fold Straight exist?

May 13, 2023 by Michael Broad

Scottish Fold and Scottish Fold Straight siblings

The Scottish Fold Straight should not exist. It only exists as a by-product of the need to avoid creating horribly unhealthy Scottish Fold cats which have both copies (Fd/Fd) of the gene (Fd) which causes the ear flaps to fold down because of weak cartilage. You’ve probably heard of the Scottish Fold purebred cat. …

Inbreeding of wild cats can lead to extinctions in the wild due to unviable population sizes

February 18, 2022February 10, 2022 by Michael Broad

Siberian tiger cub septuplets born in captivity

I feel that humankind is gradually approaching the time when we could argue that the inbreeding of some wild cat species might effectively extinguish them in the wild. Through human activity we have brought many wild cat species to their knees. The classic causes are habitat loss and direct persecution such as poaching for …