The South Australian Wildcat?
WARNING WARNING WARNING:
this page contains some gruesome material.
As promised, here are the images of the alleged wild cat which was trapped and killed in South Australia on May 14, 2001. There were actually two cats trapped, about two days apart. The first animal was killed while still in the trap, the second one, pictured below survived a few days before succumbing to injuries sustained. (I know - don't ask!) It is somewhat larger than the first. (The photos are of the second animal : the measurements below refer to the first specimen.) Both animals appear to have been siblings.
OK, I know what you're gonna say - animal lovers won't be too impressed. Look, I didn't kill them but there are plenty of hunters and trappers out there who are just itching to zap a few more. Sorry but that's how it is.
Body measurements
(Animal #1) :
Body
length from tip of nose to base of tail (i.e. end of pelvis) = 56 cm
Tail
length = 27 cm. Total length nose to tail = 83 cm.
Length
of front leg = 26 cm from top of scapula to tip of claws.
Length
of rear leg = 27 cm from pelvis socket to tips of claws.
Weight
= 2.75 kg
As you can see, coat colour is grey. My man calls the markings "bars of spots", merged to form the stripes which extend along its back and flanks and fizzle out dorsally to ventrally. The animal's legs feature the barred pattern where they become fully circumferential stripes. The light tan colour around the shoulders, head and lower limbs is not an artefact introduced by my digital imaging of the analogue photo : it appears to be a genuine colouration of the fur. I've asked my man to double check that.
Both specimens were male but the testes were very underdeveloped, only about rice grain size. In other words, it looks like both animals were sexually immature juveniles. A further indication of immaturity is that the guy who trapped them says the teeth are not fully erupted : "milk teeth" he calls them.
We sent some fur samples to >Lars Thomas of Copenhagen Museum for an expert examination. His learned opinion is that there is nothing about the fur to indicate anything other than Felis cattus. Certain people however, are convinced that this specimen is something out of the ordinary. Mainly because of its size, given its immature development.
Could it be a hybrid between a domestic and some exotic species? I don't know. It now appears that hybridization is indeed a possibility to consider.
Karl Shuker of the UK also noted salient facts pertaining to hybridization of domestics with certain Asian cat species. My thanks particularly, of course, to>W**** ***** of South Australia for allowing the use of these images.
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The coin is an Australian 50 cent piece, a dodecagon with an outside diameter of 32 mm . The cola bottle (Pepsi) is one of those big fat 2 litre ones. The animal's right at the upper limit for an adult feral domestic. But if it really is just a kitten ... ?
But then ... along came Big Mama?
Mama Cat, of course, did not fail to notice when her two cubs went missing. She came looking for them. Also another cat, somewhat smaller than Mama, came snooping around at the same time. An older sibling maybe? My man caught a glimpse of Mama - he estimated her total length, from nose to tip of tail, at about 2 metres. Mama is experienced and crafty, however, and is not a cat to let the same unhappy fate befall her.
The second visitor left tracks. Here they are, photographed from the FAX which ***** kindly sent over, and compared with the prints of the trapped "kitten". The measurements of the larger cat's prints are : Front Paw - 80 mm wide x 75 mm long, Rear Paw - 62 mm wide x 70 mm long. By comparison, pads of the "kitten" measured 45 mm wide x 33 mm long (Front) & 35 mm wide x 45 mm long (Rear).
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Feral Cats Grow Big - Darwinian Selection in Action?
 Let's
take another look at a feral cat of the desert. This particular individual is in confrontation with a pack of foxes over some food scraps. It's clearly a feral cat, Felis cattus, but note its size, compared with the watermelon it's crouched next to. Is competition for resources between
foxes and cats in the Australian desert applying selective pressure on the latter? (Clickable Image - 230K) |
My opinion?
Heh, well ... I'm not gonna say! Based on its appearance and Lars' verdict on the fur, one would leap to the conclusion that it's a feral. But a damned big one, especially if, as my man insists, it's a mere kitten. How big do feral cats grow? I don't really know. We deduce from the fox photo above that there may be strong selective pressure on desert feral cat populations favouring increased body size. How long would a substantial increase in average body size take to manifest itself? Don't know. It isn't simply a case of growing bigger. A whole raft of interacting factors need to change along with an increase in body size. Limbs need to be strengthened, body muscle must change. All genes are pleiotropic, to a greater or lesser extent, hence evolutionary change must be an incremental process. On the other hand, cats breed every few months, thus 100 years adds up to a lot of cat generations ...
Note that all these desert cats have reverted to the grey tortoiseshell pattern, with just a hint of ginger thrown in. That's the natural colouration of wild Felis cattus. It means there's not much, maybe not any(?), gene flow into their pool from town farm cats who sport every pattern under the sun. These desert cats may have achieved genetic isolation from your common or garden town cats. That's the crucial first step on the road to divergence.
What about the possibility of hybridization in the wild? Could you have ferals with varying proportions of exotic genes but which still have fur typical of F. cattus. Seems highly implausible but, again - don't really know.
What we have is a puzzle. An animal that looks, on the evidence, to be a large feral cat yet which the trappers insist is but a kitten. Then we have glimpses of Mama who is a real giant and tracks of kitty's Big Brother? You tell me! I don't know what the hell to make of it.
Availability of Specimens
By now both animals have been skinned and various bits'n'pieces have been retained by the fellow who trapped the critter. In case any serious and qualified researchers are interested in this business, I'm assured that samples of fur, teeth, muscle tissue bone are available. I understand the tissue specimens have been preserved in methylated spirit (methyl + ethyl alcohol azeotrope) and refrigerated. My man won't part with the skins but photos would be available.
Karl Shuker of the UK also noted salient facts pertaining to hybridization of domestics with certain Asian cat species. My thanks particularly, of course, toW**** ***** of South Australia for allowing the use of these images.
