What affects us affects cats
It is believed that white tigers are white because of the result of a genetic mutation which occurred about 120 years ago causing a pair of recessive genes to signal the coat to be chalk-white, the eyes ice-blue and the stripes chocolate coloured (I.W.B Thorton – 1978 – White tiger genetics – further evidence). …
It is instructional to remind ourselves what a badly bred purebred cat looks like. Here we have an Exotic Shorthair, the shorthaired version of the Persian. The facial anatomy has been distorted by poor selective breeding. The eyes bulge and appear to point in different directions. It is almost as if the eyes are …
A study lead by a conservation biologist at the Zoological Society of London, Simon Dures, has produced compelling but not conclusive evidence that sport hunting of African lions has made them physically less strong than they were 100 years ago because it has made lions’ genetic makeup less diverse. “We show that the genetic …
Instagram have removed Michael Rapaport’s video commentary on Wilfred the inbred Persian and he is livid. Wilfred has taken the internet by storm. Strange looking cats do. But there is a moral dimension which Rapaport missed. Rapaport, in his effing uniquely crude style, complains about the removal of his video in which he likes …
According to a well-respected study the most inbred cat breeds are Burmese, Havana Brown, Singapura and Sokoke. These cat breeds have the lowest heterozygosity values and the highest coefficient of inbreeding (COI) values. At the second-tier level in terms of the most inbred cat breeds, the study found that the Birman, Abyssinian, Russian blue, …
Hybrid vigor (vigour) is also called heterosis. When you introduce fresh genes into a breeding program the offspring may benefit from hybrid vigor. The offspring are healthier and sometimes larger.
Cat inbreeding causes what is described as “inbreeding depression” which is another term for general weakness. Robinson’s Genetics for Breeders and Veterinarians provides a list of signs of inbreeding depression which are as follows: There may be a decline in birth weight. The kittens may be small, thin or lethargic. The kittens may demonstrate …
The white lion cub and the white tiger cub are often the major attractions at zoos. You’ll have to go to a zoo to see one because they don’t occur in the wild anymore. They occur at zoos such as Paradise Wildlife Park, UK, because they are money makers and zoo staff closely inbred …
