Spotted Cats: A List Of Wild And Domestic Cat Breeds, Photos, Owner Reviews

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 22:26

Spotted cats: wild and domestic

Leopard - the spotted color gives a special charm to cats that wear such coats. And it is very attracted to people who seek to get animals of exotic breeds or even wild cats with spotted color. Is it always good, and what do you need to know about it?

Content

• 1 History of patterns on wool

  1.1 Video: the saber-toothed tiger was not striped, but spotted

• 2 Wild spotted cats

  • 2.1 Photo Gallery: Spotted Wild Cat Species

  • 2.2 Jaguar or Leopard?

    2.2.1 Video: the pattern on the fur - the main difference between a jaguar and a leopard

  • 2.3 Snow leopard

  • 2.4 Cheetah

    2.4.1 Video: the cheetah is the fastest animal on the planet

  • 2.5 Fishing Cat
  • 2.6 Ocelot

  • 2.7 Serval

    2.7.1 Video: Serval - Wild or Domestic?

• 3 Domestic spotted cats

  • 3.1 Photo gallery: spotted color in domestic cat breeds

  • 3.2 Bengal cat

    3.2.1 Video: a real Bengal cat on your couch

  • 3.3 Ussuri

  • 3.4 Pixie bob

    3.4.1 Video: miniature affectionate lynx - pixie bob

  • 3.5 Egyptian Mau

    3.5.1 Video: Egyptian Mau - the oldest and fastest

  • 3.6 Toyger

    3.6.1 Video: Toyger - Tiger or Kitten?

  • 3.7 Ocicat

    3.7.1 Video: everything about the Ocicat breed

  • 3.8 Serengeti

    3.8.1 Video: Serengeti cat - leggy, like a model

  • 3.9 California shining

  • 3.10 Savannah or Ushera?

    3.10.1 Video: Savannah - the world's most expensive cat

• 4 How to choose a spotted kitten
• 5 Reviews of owners of spotted cats

History of patterns on wool

In the wild, the most common way of camouflage in animals has become dark spots on the fur - they imitate the play of light and shadow, as if crushing the body of the animal, thus helping it to mimic the environment. The most widespread spotted color was obtained in many species of predatory cats - both large and small, living on different continents of the planet.

Spotted color is very popular with wild cats

Ginger cougar kittens wear spotted fur coats

The history of spotted patterns begins in ancient times, with the appearance of the first predatory mammals. Then nature experimented a lot with colors, and this option became one of the most successful. According to scientists, machairods, smilodons, xenosmilus, giant jaguars and cheetahs, as well as many other prehistoric monster cats were spotted.

The terrible smilodon (saber-toothed tiger) is depicted as spotted

Modern wild felines, fortunately, have become more modest in size than their distant ancestors, but the successful polka-dot suit has remained very popular among a large number of species. Leopard is one of the varieties of tabby feline that is very common in the wild and much less common in pets. Of the four dozen species of the cat family, two-thirds have spotted coats.

Video: the saber-toothed tiger was not striped, but spotted

Wild spotted cats

Spotted coats are "worn" by the largest species of the feline family, and the smallest wild cats, not exceeding the size of domestic cats. This color helps the animals to disguise themselves - both by hiding in an ambush for hunting, and by hiding from more powerful enemies, so as not to become their victim.

Photo Gallery: Spotted Wild Cat Species

Jaguar is one of the three largest cats on the planet

Any member of the feline family can envy the leopard population

The little black-footed cat is a cruel and bloodthirsty predator

The Far Eastern cat eats a lot and sleeps a lot, and hunts a lot during breaks

The spotted striped jungle cat settles in fox holes or builds huts out of reeds

Oncilla - the name of this rare cat is translated as "little leopard"

The extraordinary beauty of the snow leopard has led to the almost complete extermination of this species.

Geoffroy's little cat is one of the rarest and most beautiful

It is by its bright spotting that the red lynx differs from the ordinary

The Iriomotean cat lives only on the Iriomote island

The Far Eastern leopard is a rare, secretive animal

You can't tame a fluffy pretty manul

Wild Bengal cat gave home its beauty

Ocelot is good at taming and breeding with domestic cats

Jaguar or Leopard?

The largest and most dangerous spotted cats - jaguar and leopard, at first glance, are very similar to each other. But these are completely different species, and the animals have significant differences, although they belong to the same genus. The habitat of the leopard is South Asia and almost all of Africa, except perhaps the territory of the Sahara. Jaguars are found throughout South and South North America.

The jaguar is more powerful and massive than the more elegant leopard. A large male jaguar can weigh up to one and a half centners, which does not prevent him from moving rapidly, making giant leaps and masterly climbing trees. These predators allow themselves to hunt large and strong animals - sometimes even alligators become their prey.

Jaguar is the largest spotted cat

Leopards are also some of the luckiest felines to hunt. The survival rate of the species, which is also often called the panther (by the generic name), is very high. He is not picky about food, and on occasion he will not disdain carrion. A male leopard usually does not weigh more than 75 kilograms.

Leopard is the most common spotted cat

Actually, the patterns themselves on the wool of jaguars and leopards are different. The black spots on the jaguar are larger and more contrasting - they are irregular rings with black dots inside. In the leopard, the spots are small, rounded or almost square, they are located separately or collected in the likeness of flowers (rosettes).

Jaguar (left) and leopard (right) are brothers, but not twins

Video: the pattern on the wool is the main difference between a jaguar and a leopard

Snow Leopard

According to the most optimistic estimates, the number of this most beautiful animal does not exceed seven thousand adults. The snow leopard, also known as the irbis, is listed in the International Red Book and has become a member of various conservation and breeding programs for rare species. Only thanks to the active participation of the world community in its fate, the snow leopard was still preserved as a species - its valuable fur was too attractive for poachers.

Snow leopard is a beautiful rare cat, listed in the Red Book

The harsh living conditions have shaped the unique fur of the snow leopard, similar to which no other cat has - thick, densely "stuffed" with undercoat and very long, up to five centimeters. Contrasting black spots look especially impressive on a light gray, almost white background.

Irbis diligently avoid meeting, but when they meet, they fight to the death

Cheetah

The main thing we know about cheetahs is that they are unrivaled runners. Indeed, in pursuit of prey, these cat sprinters can accelerate to almost a hundred kilometers per hour - but they do not hold this speed for long. A running, flying cheetah is an amazing sight: the structure of the animal's body, its muscles are perfect and ideally adapted to the pursuit.

Even the quality of the fur is adapted to the most important task - to catch up and catch. The hairline is almost devoid of undercoat, but consists mainly of a smooth elastic awn, which, tightly fitting to the body on the run, makes it even more streamlined. Cheetahs take great care of their beautiful coat.

The royal cheetah was previously considered a separate species - a hybrid with a serval

Cheetahs do not show aggression towards humans, and in some cases they are even tamed quite well. A thousand years ago in Persia, trained cheetahs were used to hunt saigas. Such animals were called Pardus, they were fabulously expensive and were available only to the highest nobility.

Jolie with friends posing on the master's bed

Video: cheetah is the fastest animal on the planet

Fishing cat

A fish cat, or civet fisher cat, prefers to settle along the shores of small bodies of water in the tropical or subtropical forests of Southeast Asia. Outwardly, this animal looks like most Asian and American medium cats, but in fact it is unique in many ways.

Fishing cat is an excellent swimmer and diver

The speckled cat - as it is also called - loves fish very much and knows how to catch it. The grayish-brown, black-speckled wool is water-repellent.

John Davis is a fish and music lover

Ocelot

Without exaggeration, the ocelot can be called the most beautiful average cat in America. Short, with a moire effect, the coat is covered with large ring-shaped spots. There are ten subspecies, which differ primarily in the shades and quality of the chic spotted skin, as well as in size - the weight of an ocelot can range from seven to fifteen kilograms.

Ocelot - spotted perfectly native to America

Outrageous artist Salvador Dali was the owner of a hand-held ocelot

Serval

Serval is a medium-sized African cat. He has large ears, high steady feet and a very bright spotted color. The appearance of the serval is so unusual that it cannot fail to attract attention.

Serval is an exotic cat that is well tamed

Video: Serval - Wild or Home?

Domestic spotted cats

Domestic cat breeds with spotted color do not differ in great external diversity. Almost all of them were obtained by hybridization - crossing wild spotted cats with domestic ones. Such unions are quite often productive, but the result is, as a rule, unpromising offspring - burdened by various pathologies or incapable of reproduction.

Photo gallery: spotted color in domestic cat breeds

Serengeti is the longest-legged cat, the prototype of which was the wild serval

Ussuri cat is an aboriginal Russian breed, which only recently received the first standard

Domestic Bengal cat - descendant of wild Bengals

Toyger is a miniature domestic tiger

The Ocicat is not at all a relative of the ocelot, as the name might suggest.

Lynx-like pixie bob has extra toes

The California shining cat was created according to the "script" of the American Paul Casey

The spotted color of the ancient Egyptian Mau breed is of natural origin

Savannah cat is a hybrid of a serval and a domestic cat

Bengal cat

Exotic wild beauty, full of drama history of the breed - the owners of Bengal cats have something to tell and something to be proud of. Bengals received the official breed status only in 1991. And the first effective mating of a wild leopard Bengal cat with a domestic cat was undertaken almost thirty years earlier. The resulting hybrids became the founders of the domestic Bengal breed.

Bengal cats can be of different colors

The legs of a thoroughbred animal are both spotted and striped. It is important that the color of the spots contrasted as much as possible with the tone of the main color - the brighter this difference, the higher the cat is valued.

All Bengal colors look very impressive

The breed standard does not yet recognize some exclusive colors - for example, melanistic, blue, coal. But they have their own connoisseurs who are ready to pay a high price for owning such a unique animal.

Video: a real Bengal cat on your couch

Ussuri

Self-confident, strong Ussuri cats live on the territory of the Russian Amur region. This aboriginal breed has appeared a long time ago, it has a "wild" - spotted or striped color - and is in the process of official formation. Outwardly, it resembles the famous toyger. The Ussuri cat is also called by the beautiful name of the leopardette.

The Ussuri cat lives only on the territory of the Amur region

The breed was described in 1993 by a felinologist Olga Mironova. A year later, the Ussuri cat received its first breed standard and the Felinological Association of Russia. The Ussuri population is very small, and there are no nurseries for breeding leopardettes yet. For an interesting breed to be developed and recognized, a large and systematic selection work will be required.

Pixie bob

Don't be fooled by the wild and even harsh appearance of this powerful cat, resembling a greatly reduced lynx. Pixie bob is the kindest creature, sociable, playful and affectionate, loyal to the owner, like a dog. This breed began with a multi-toed short-tailed cat - in 1985, an American breeder mated him with a spotted cat and got a very successful offspring. Ten years later, the new breed was registered with TICA.

Pixie bob - small domestic lynx

The pixie bob breed is recognized by most of the authoritative felinological communities: ACFA, WCF, CCA, FARUS. The name of the breed is translated from English as "short-tailed elf".

Video: miniature affectionate lynx - pixie bob

Egyptian mau

Egyptian Mau, which in ancient times was considered the cat of the goddess Bastet, is perhaps the fastest among domestic cats. All Mau run very fast, but some individuals are capable of speeds up to fifty km / h! Even outwardly, in terms of the structure of their body, Mau are similar to cheetahs.

Many researchers consider the Egyptian Mau to be the oldest domestic cat breed, and its gorgeous breed color is natural and natural, and not the result of selection, like all other domestic cats. By the way, the name of the cat in translation from Arabic is “Mau”.

Egyptian Mau is considered the oldest breed of cats

Egyptian Mau is of natural origin

Video: Egyptian Mau - the oldest and fastest

Toyger

Despite its "tiger name", this breed can have not only striped, but also spotted color. Working on the “design” of the toyger, breeders try to create a small copy of the tiger, bringing all the proportions of the new breed as close as possible to the external parameters of the wild animal. But this "beast" was supposed to become something like a living toy with plush, unusually soft hair and the same character.

Toyger - a plush domestic tiger

Toyger remains a funny kitten until old age

Video: toyger - tiger or kitten?

Ocicat

The ocelot was not at all the ancestor of the Ocicat - it is an absolutely domestic breed, without wild predecessors, and this is its great advantage over genetically unstable hybrid breeds. The first Ocicat appeared … unexpectedly for the breeders themselves, who crossed a Siamese with an Abyssinian to get an Abyssinian cat with a Siamese color. But the color of one of the kittens amazed American felinologists: it was ivory, with dark spots - and the name "Ocicat" was born with it.

Ocicat - 100% domestic, no wild impurities, cat

Ocicats can be of different colors, but the spots remain the same

Video: everything about the Ocicat breed

Serengeti

This breed became one of the successful experiments of the famous American geneticist Karen Southman, who wanted to create a special cat, similar to a serval. The very breed name was given in honor of the African Serengeti National Park, where many servals live. The Serengeti cat appeared as a result of crossing Oriental and Bengals. Perhaps it does not resemble a serval too much - but, you see, it's good!

The paws of the serengeti are the longest of all breeds of domestic cats, it runs quickly and jumps high - up to two meters in height from a place. But a special charm to the cat is given by its spotted color - on a translucent, mother-of-pearl background, the spots look like precious stones. The standard provides for a large palette of colors - the breed develops in the direction of their diversity.

Kittens of different colors are born in one litter of serengeti

Video: Serengeti cat - leggy, like a model

California shining

These adorable fidgets, as the breed's name suggests, first appeared in the state of California - in the late eighties, the United States experienced a boom in the creation of new exotic breeds. Some of them took root and became widespread throughout the world, and some - like the Californian shining - have remained among the rarest pets, even in their historical homeland.

This cat turned out to be the most unusual project of Paul Casey, a screenwriter from Hollywood. It was he who became the author and creator of the Californian radiant - a small domestic leopard, the genetic "bouquet" of which was made up of the blood of such breeds:

• Abyssinian;
• siamese;
• angora;
• British;
• Egyptian Mau.

Savannah or Ushera?

With all the variety of spotted domestic cats, the brightest representative of them is the breed with the eloquent name - Savannah. Her story is full of collisions and at times resembles an action-packed detective story. The idea of the creators of the savannah was initially understandable and attractive - as a result of selection, American geneticists saw a giant cat with a wild appearance and an agreeable domestic character.

Despite the "wild" past, savannah is very tolerant of humans

The date of creation of the breed is 1986. And exactly twenty years later, the largest scandal in the cat world broke out around the savannah. A certain "biotechnological company Lifestyle Pets" announced the creation of a unique breed of Usher cats. The kittens, the queue for which lined up several years ahead, turned out to be the same savannas, known for two decades.

Ashera is a cat that … does not exist

History is silent about how many ambitious people around the world have fallen victim to inventive fraudsters. The price of a kitten "Usher" started at 22 thousand dollars, and to buy the "coolest" one without a queue, one had to pay a gigantic sum - up to 100 thousand dollars.

Video: Savannah is the world's most expensive cat

How to choose a spotted kitten

First, decide which animal you want to get: a wild predator or a domestic cat - a spotted color and an exotic appearance are quite possible in both of these options. But in the first case, very high costs will be required, and not only financial ones: to tame a wild kitten, it will take a huge amount of time, effort, attention and patience - without a guaranteed positive result. It is quite possible that the predator will remain a predator, and its natural aggression will manifest itself at the most unexpected moment.

Yes, some types of feline are more prone to domestication than others. Among them, for example, such animals:

• ocelot;
• serval;
• oncilla;
• Geoffroy's cat.

However, the species identity is not an absolute guarantee that the animal will be tame. In some individuals, both animal instincts and natural distrust of humans are too strong. And then all your efforts may be in vain - you have to get rid of the source of danger in your home. But the wild cat is not to blame for anything: he did not ask to come to your house, his place is in nature or, in extreme cases, in the zoo, where specialists will work with him.

A leopard kitten will never be completely tame

If the matter is only in the prestigious spotted color, opt for some safe option specially bred for keeping in the apartment. There are many interesting domestic breeds with exotic speckled color - they have the appearance of a wild animal and are quite docile, predictable in nature. But such cats are quite rare and expensive - you need to be careful when buying them so as not to fall into the networks of scammers.

Spotted British kitten - a rare sight in the familiar breed

Spotted kittens of domestic breeds differ from all others only in their unusual color. This type of tabby is found in many common breeds, and a cute spotted baby can be purchased quite inexpensively. At the same time, you will have a guarantee that your pet will not have problems with upbringing and behavior. If you want to get a guaranteed show-class animal, follow the same recommendations as when buying a kitten of a rare exotic breed.

Buying a kitten that is too small is always a very big risk.

And one more important point. Experienced zoopsychologists advise to acquire cubs of wild cats only at a very young, sucking age: a month - a maximum of one and a half. Only then can the animal, through the so-called sealing, perceive a person as its parent and accept your family as its own. In this case, there will be a chance to tame the little savage.

Reviews of the owners of spotted cats

Are you in love with wild spotted cats and having such an animal is your lifelong dream? This is quite understandable, but approach the choice very responsibly - weigh your capabilities, not only financial, but also physical. Emotional decisions can lead to dire consequences, and the experience of many people proves that it is better to leave wild animals the right to live in the wild. For the home, there are many wonderful cat breeds with a spotted color and exotic appearance.