Rarer than nessie
June 25, 2018 7:12 AM   Subscribe

 
According to The Cat Sense, previous attempts at domesticating Scottish wildcats have been a resounding failure; the species, like most wild animals, is aggressively paranoid and undomesticable. Though I'm wondering if there could be some long-term project, sort of like the Siberian fox domestication experiment that yielded pet foxes after a few decades, that could ultimately yield other species of domestic cats.
posted by acb at 7:42 AM on June 25, 2018


The Scottish wildcat is interfertile with the (considerably smaller) domestic cat. The result is that there are a lot of hybrids running around in the wild, which interbreed with the dwindling pure wildcats (which also suffer from a reduction in human-free territory), hence the hybridisation issue brought up in the articles linked to. Most of the ones in the wild aren't true Scottish wildcats any more.
posted by cstross at 8:03 AM on June 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


Yeah, I was going to say what cstross said about the interbreeding, it's a big problem. I hope they manage to save them because they have a special place in my heart, although I've never managed to see one in person - Edinburgh Zoo had one for a while but it was essentially invisible because the enclosure was large and deliberately overgrown. I suspect that the interbreeding issue may make it a lost cause outside of captive breeding programs, but I live in hope.

I'd love to see a domesticated version, but my gut feeling is that it would no longer be a Scottish Wildcat, and it would probably be easier to create a stable, domesticated hybrid strain if somebody really wanted to go that route.
posted by stillnocturnal at 8:49 AM on June 25, 2018


who's a grumpy cat?
posted by supermedusa at 8:53 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


I can think of a certain large, pretty useless golf course that could be nationalized and to a wildcat sanctuary...
posted by happyroach at 8:55 AM on June 25, 2018 [23 favorites]


That will teach me to read all the links first - I see the kittens are at Edinburgh Zoo! They must not be on display, I was there recently (I take every visitor to the zoo) but if I ever get a chance to see them I WILL DIE.

We're having a rare hot day, and the last time I was at the zoo in this weather they had giant meat-flavored ice-cubes for all the big and small cats. It was amazing. This isn't technically relevant but it was the only time that all the cats were out in the open, licking.
posted by stillnocturnal at 8:59 AM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]


I think the interbreeding is a good thing because it's the only way they're guaranteed to be able to go on in this fallen world.
posted by jamjam at 9:22 AM on June 25, 2018


Notably absent from the articles is the mention of grouse: gamekeepers will trap and kill anything that threatens an estate's grouse. If the past record on reporting red kite kills is anything to go on (basically, large estates were at best "Dunno, mate" until poisoned red kit carcasses were brought out as evidence), the future's not bright for the mountain kitty.
posted by scruss at 9:47 AM on June 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


who's a grumpy cat?

A wild cat with no range left? You’d be grumpy, too.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:22 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


A wild cat with no range left? You’d be grumpy, too.

I know :(
kitty's like "get outta my place!!"
posted by supermedusa at 11:50 AM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]


Well, not with a headline like that they can't.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 7:51 PM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


Thanks for posting these articles. I enjoyed learning about Scottish wildcats.
posted by medusa at 8:56 PM on June 25, 2018


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