“Wild Cat Breeds”
by Michael
(London, UK)
I thought I would briefly point out the inaccuracy of the title to this post. A good number of people searching for information about wildcats search using the phrase “wild cat breeds”. There are no such cats.
There are 36 species of wildcat and over 100 breeds of purebred domestic cats.
The word, “species” is used to classify animals that are similar at genetic and appearance levels into certain groups. The classification of animals is called, “taxonomy”.
Classification has been changed due to the introduction of DNA testing. In the past classification was based on appearance and anatomical features. Many species created on appearance alone have now been reclassified as a single species or subspecies.
“Breeds” of cat refer only to purebred domestic cats. There are over 100 breeds of domestic cat. All are a single species of cat: Felis silvestris catus. This is a subspecies of the wildcat.
{Note: in this instance the word “wildcat” means the particular species of wildcat not wildcats generally! That can create a bit of confusion}
The original domestic cat was a domesticated African and/or European wildcat, a small wildcat much like the random bred moggie domestic cat.
The many breeds of domestic cat that now exist all came from the random bred cat, both longhaired and shorthaired cats, a single species of cat.
It seems surprising that this is the case.
Wildcat photo: by Jonnee, Domestic by Colin+Alison Warner (both on Flickr)
Hope this helps a bit. Let’s hope people stop searching for, “wild cat breeds”.
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