Corsica's 'fox cat': On the trail of what may be a new species | Hacker News Reader

Corsica's 'fox cat': On the trail of what may be a new species

phys.org

139 pointslelf47 comments

Interesting that it might be related to the African wild cat, and thus to the Sardinian one ("su gatu areste") as well.

Domestic cats are also descendants of African Wildcats with some divergences like not quite as long fangs and less human pleasant voices (in addition to attitude differences).

I am not saying they aren't a distinct species but I wonder what separates them from ferals. Time and genetic distance making them their own distinct collection of features not usually found?

Mere interbreedability doesn't work too well as evidenced by the hybrid domestic cat breeds.

Is it bigger or smaller than a maine coon?

Smaller.

The article mentions there are 16 cats, isn’t that far too few for a genetically healthy population?

16 they know about. Giving how fast cats can multiply if unchecked, I expect the actual population to be larger.

Considering they’re thought to arrived several thousand years ago, are they on the way out, or is this just from one town.

Cheetahs had a genetic bottleneck of 11 individuals, severely constraining genetic diversity, which they may not naturally recover from.

so fox-cat?

I have always though cats were super interesting. They are still so bound to their natural mindset if you want, and I have never experienced any cat being as pet-like as dogs.

They have an interesting mind and can be super funny to observe, because of their natural patterns.

Great story this

Oh, we've got 3 cats (all rescues, not some particular breed) and two are super pet-oriented, as much as our lab mix dog. It's evidently just a personal preference?

You can train cats to be more pet like, but you need to start at a really young age. (Hold them a lot as a kitten, etc) People also regularly train cats to do tricks, but that’s more dependent on the cat.

I did this to my cat, he's the most dog-like friendly cat ever, but it's still not the same as a dog. They are much more clever and manipulative than dogs when it comes to getting what they want, which is both amusing and annoying.

I have two rescue cats here, they are extremely sociable and pet-like. It is annoying sometimes such as right now when I am trying to recover a broken windows update and the cat wants to play and draw my attention by gnawing on the Surface screen corner... (yes, he got my attention)

Perhaps you just haven't spent much time with domesticated cats. They are generally incredibly docile and friendly towards humans (ones they're familiar and comfortable with), especially if you compare a cat that has lived with humans its whole life to a completely feral domestic cat, or any other species of small, wild cats. Viewed through such a comparison, domestic cats might as well be dogs.

Personally, my two cats want nothing more than to constantly be on my lap, held, or petted. If I get too close to the larger one when he's sitting on an elevated surface, he'll try to climb my chest and rest on my shoulder. They also love to play with people.

As I write this the smaller one is curled up on my lap and cleaning herself. This is a very vulnerable situation for her and the fact that she does so on my lap means she feels safe there. Nothing very wild about that.

In typical cat fashion the cat-fox seems very un-enthused about being held

I wonder what evolutionary pressure produced my intense desire to pick up kitty cats and bury my face in their tummies if possible. Because reflecting on it, it does seem like an odd behavior.

Toxoplasmosis - a parasite cats carry that can change your behaviour.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-cats-responsi...

Probably has more to do with how humans are wired to react to their "cute" or baby-like appearances, e.g. large eyes and heads.

I can also say I've always wanted to bury my head in cat tummies, and I recently tested negative for Toxoplasmosis. AFAIK, the infection is more correlated with making men more introverted and depressed and women more extroverted and manic.

I continue to satisfy my snuggle urge with the rest of you all in spite of 2 out of 3 @home kitty's reaction, latching onto the sides of my head with claws fully extended with vigorous rabbit kicks thrown in because why not? Since I keep doing it I think I need a toxo test, ECT, or something. Is the test for toxoplasmosis a blood test that requires a prescription?

Again, I don't believe there's any evidence Toxoplasmosis makes people irrationally interested in cuddling with cats. I had a blood test done at my doctor's office to investigate a swollen lymph node and they included the toxo test on the panel.

Safety. A cat sleeping in your bed is the best guarantee against snake, rabies/plague carrying rat, etc. making its way unnoticed into the bed. I think that the religion driven prejudice against cats back then was the man reason for the Plagues - i mean all those rats running around in a densely populated city would just not happened if the cats were normally around.

edit: corrected to rabies, thanks :)

I didn't know rats carried rabbis.

That kitty/fox is heavily sedated

So, not related to the fox. Also, not a new species but rather a probable new subspecies. Other than that, the title is accurate.

Corsica

Common names of animals often have common names of unrelated animals, (elephant beetle, dog fish, tiger shark... none of these are hybrids ;) ).

Also I heard recently that a fox is cat software running on dog hardware. Seems true.

That explains our Burmese cats - dog software on cat hardware!

Also, in French bat is called "chauve-souris", which can literally be translated as "bald mouse".

I think I have a new favorite false etymology, for "chauvinist".

The actual etymology is pretty interesting:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/chauvinism

Not far from the German "fledermaus" ("flying mouse").

And in French, potato is "pomme de terre", which can literally be translated as "apples of earth" - or as I like to call them, "ground apples".

I think the translation is poor. Since adjectives usually come after the noun in Corsican and French, I think it should have been translated as "fox cat", not "cat fox"...

Ghjattu-volpe is a noun-noun compound, not a noun-adjective pair. Cat-fox is correct.

The order is still flipped for noun-noun pairs in romance languages. A "pesci spada" should be translated as "swordfish", not "fish sword".

Whatever the grammatical classification of these words though, "ghjattu-volpe" (like French "chat-renard") would clearly be translated as "fox-cat" into English. In both cases, even though "fox" might not be technically an adjective, it's functionally a mere modifier for "cat".

Gatto volpe in Italian would be best translated as fox cat.

Italian speakers often kind of mangle English pairs that way in that they'll drop the second word, like "Pulled Pork" becoming "Il Pulled" in an online group about BBQ I used to subscribe too.

OK, we've put the fox before the cat above.

Hey, I know a house cat when I see one. You’re not fooling anyone with your “science”!

Sure hope I’m being downvoted for not being funny. Am afraid that in today’s world, some of you really think I’m anti-science. Scary!

Considering cats are the subject of some of the most ancient memes and foxes are arguably trending in their meme status... Could this new hybrid revolutionize memes as we know it? We live in exciting times

The article didn't mention anything about them being a hybrid species. And I'm pretty sure they are a feline species that earned the name based on looks.

I feel a lot of pity for all wild cats, because their domestic cousins have it soo good. This cat-fox in a remote swamp in a remote island is dearly missing out big in the perks of civilization. Then again, we even let people do that ...

Remote island?!?!

>While resembling a domestic cat in some ways, the ring-tailed feline measures 90 centimetres (35 inches) from head to tail, has "very wide" ears, short whiskers and "highly developed" canine teeth.

I am sceptical. Why didn't they show a picture of the canine teeth? I would imagine that feature would be the most exciting phenotype to show off. The ears don't look "very wide" to me either. Not that I am an expert. I am just surprised that they did not provide more pictures to backup their claims.

The second picture shows how they are measuring canine teeth.

Wow, I have blinders on today. Thanks for pointing that out.

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