The European wildcat is a striped cat, naturally. Not that many cats are striped. It is also the parent species, supposedly, of the one domesticated in the middle east. So, if tabby didn’t appear in our domestic cats until rhe middle ages, I would bet further research shows that gene came from a previously domesticated species interbreeding with the European Wildcat. Could also explain the heavier body type of European and American housecats compared to Asian breeds. Fun conjecture!
Definitely! I’m sorry that your bit about the local wildcats’ ecological niche being overtaking by domestic cats got mostly cut out. The sound on that part was garbled.
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The European wildcat is a striped cat, naturally. Not that many cats are striped. It is also the parent species, supposedly, of the one domesticated in the middle east. So, if tabby didn’t appear in our domestic cats until rhe middle ages, I would bet further research shows that gene came from a previously domesticated species interbreeding with the European Wildcat. Could also explain the heavier body type of European and American housecats compared to Asian breeds. Fun conjecture!
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Definitely! I’m sorry that your bit about the local wildcats’ ecological niche being overtaking by domestic cats got mostly cut out. The sound on that part was garbled.
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