American Bobcat Hybrids

American Bobcat

American Bobcat Hybrids are known to have occurred. The American Bobcat (F Rufus) is similar to the domestic cat. There is quite a small step from this small wild cat to the domestic cat, which is reinforced by the fact that (s)he has been known to mate with domestic cats (without people's intervention that is).

Some examples of recorded matings between the Bobcat and domestic cats producing American Bobcat Hybrids:

1949 - Sandy Creek, Texas - Offspring observed

1954 - South Dakota, mating between a Bobcat and black female domestic cat. Allegedly, 7 kittens born but only 3 can be attributed to the mating it seems. The kittens had tufted ears, bob tails and large wild cat feet.

1961 - 5 kittens, 2 were like domestic cats and three like Bobcats (tufted ears, white bellies and spots). When adult they were like dark American Bobcats.

1980s - Claimed by some that the original domestic American Bobtail was a cross between the American Bobcat and a domestic cat. No genetic evidence. Apparently Siamese females were the preferred mate for the Bobcat. This must have been the Traditional Siamese.

1980s? - Other alleged Bobcat hybrids are the Pixie-Bob and the American Lynx. There is no genetic evidence to support the argument that the Pixie-Bob is a wild/domestic hybridization. I think the same is true of the American Lynx.

The fact is that, understandably, cat breeders will create an interest in the cat they are breeding, which is more easily achieved if it can be claimed that the cat is a wild cat/domestic cat hybrid. This seems to have been the case with the American Lynx and Desert Lynx but no genetic markers have been found.

There are other cats where the origin of the breed has been associated with a "discovery" in wild and exotic places. The evidence to support these discoveries is thin. Examples that comes to mind are the Sokoke and the Abyssinian.

Photograph copyright ucumari
Source: Messybeast

From American Bobcat Hybrids to Pixie-Bob

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