This video may interest people who are interested in the cat breeds. The Lykoi seems to be one of the semi-hairless cats and has been around, somewhere for I while I suspect until a breeder got hold of one and decided to create a new cat breed. That is how it works a lot of the time. In other words this is not a created breed but a mutation (but is it?). Breeders call these “naturally occurring mutations” as it sounds better. Created cat breeds are hybrids: mating one cat with another.
The belly is hairless and the eyes are very large. Baby-like I guess, someone might remark. And people like babies so I expect the breed to be a success: a mixture of baby and werewolf! Weird but interesting if you are into that sort of thing. I think the kitten is called King Artemis.
This is a typically cute kitten. The face is rather extraordinary, I have to say. This is an ugly-pretty cat. Lykoi means wolf in Greek or it is a derivative of it.
There is a slight similarity to the Peterbald – a semi-hairless Russian cat.
If the video above is pulled it is presented below from the Daily Mail who have no doubt downloaded it from YouTube (with permission?) and remade it for their own servers:
Yes, thanks Michele for reminding me of that. Natural mutations occur but unless they benefit the organism the mutated version dies out. But if the mutation is beneficial it becomes permanent. In the instance, if it is a mutation it is not beneficial so it would not last. So “natural mutations” are not always good. There must have been millions of lost, never to be seen, natural mutations in nature over the eons.
I read about the “werewolf” cat last year and I don’t believe that this is a natural mutation. The people who created the Lykoi are vet Johnny Gobble (with a specialist interest in genetics) and his wife Brittany who is a breeder of Sphynx cats. She’s been extensively outcrossing her Sphynx and I suspect the Lykoi is a result of one of those matings.
Personally, I think it’s unethical to base a breed “trait” on a mutation which is harmful or non-beneficial to the cat. Sad to say there will always be people looking for the next novelty pet who’re happy to pay exorbitant prices and they keep these unscrupulous breeders in business.
He’s a love muffin, for sure.
That face and those ears…
HAHAHAHAHA
I like that. I certainly feel like one sometimes. And you are right in that evolution is built on mutations. We wouldn’t be here but for naturally occurring mutations.
Face it folks, we’re all naturally occurring mutations…