The history of the Somali cat

The Somali cat, the longhaired variant of the already since the middle of the 19th Abessinische century bred cat dar. However, the Somali Somalia with as little to do with how the Abessinierin Abyssinia. Got its name from the US-born Longhair variant simply by neighboring Abyssinia, now Ethiopia, in order to delineate the short-haired cousin.

Exactly can no longer be traced back to when the first Somali appeared. Some breeders assume that it is the long-Gen of Somali to a separate mutation, which originate in the pure Abessinische cat has. The genetics expert Don Shaw published 1974 adopted an theory, after the Somali not for the expression of Longhair necessary for the recessive genotype characteristics Long reinerbigen TISSUE.

"These 'longhaired cat' and possibly the l allele and homozygous not have halblanghaariges still a coat. How can that be? Well, the Abessinische are for your 'double skin' ... The known genetic factors that are responsible for this fur, are a complex combination of different modifiers, which the length of the hair enlarge. If these modifiers reinerbig available, they may, in extreme cases, the longer coat, very soft, silky body hair and a bushy tail shape. This is reproducible? Yes, certainly this is useful if you selection operates. "(CATS, May 1974, quoted by Somali Cat Club of America)

Genetic studies on the other hand, suggests that English Abessinische breeders in the period after the World Wars, when the breeding shrunk sensitive stocks were also longhaired cats in their breeding programs of their long and so the gene into cultured Abessinische was introduced.

The first documented ancestor of the Somali seems to 1942 appeared to be a sailor a ship's cat, the appearance of a Abessinierkatze had brought to England. One of the daughters of this cat was the English breeder Janet C. Robertson gift, which of those named were Mrs. Mews. Mrs. Mews got two kittens: Roverdale Purrkins, as Abessinische been registered, and a black cat unregistered. Purrkins father was the master of Roverdale Catts by Janet Robertson, from where cats into the rest of Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States were exported.

One of the descendants of Roverdale Purrkins was Raby Chuffa of Selene, a Abessinische-hangover, which founded in 1953 by England in the U.S. was exported. He is considered the ancestor of the Somali in the United States, and the pedigrees of many Somali from U.S. lines up Raby Chuffa can be traced. In his descendants were particularly large number of longhaired kittens, which, however, were initially unwelcome. The Abessinische breeders assorted cats from this, angry that their efforts to Abessinische type in the U.S. lines to strengthen the longhaired kittens were disrupted. Longhaired kittens were considered signs that a line is not "purely Abessinische" and was therefore a long time were hushed.

1967 began the Abessinierzüchterin Evelyn Mague, thrilled by the beauty of the longhaired Abyssinian those targeted to grow, reflecting strong opposition among other Abessinierzüchtern met. They discovered in 1967 in the shelter where she worked as a volunteer assistant, the asylum hangover George. According to research revealed to their surprise that both parents in their own breeding lived. She was faced with and even attacked while their cats at shows presented:

My good Freudin Frances Taft, probably one of the oldest Abessinische-breeder of the country at the time, but certainly the largest owner of the cattery, took my Lynn Lee's Polly Anna, while I presented it. She says, longhaired Abessinische would only have their corpse will be recognized, what a sad way, also was the case.

At the beginning of the 70s began the cooperation of Evelyn Mague and Don Richings, a Canadian breeder. The lines of Richings went back to Ken McGill Cattery Dunedin, whose animals, however, a leukemia fell victim to epidemics.

On 3 January 1972 was the first pure long throw into Mague Evelyn Lynn Lee Cattery what it took to the occasion, the Somali Cat Club of America to establish order for the recognition of the new breed of fighting. Until 1979 the race was the champion status and thus the official recognition by the Cat Fanciers Association. Somalis in Europe were then 1982 by the Fédération International Féline recognized.

The history of the Somali from the perspective of Evelyn Mague is when Somali Cat Club of America to read.

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