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Cat-fox species?

I thought that was pretty cool. A new species of cat discovered....in Corsica? Any previously unknown mammal bigger than a mouse is pretty amazing, but I would expect them to be found in dense jungles.

I wonder if it's really a "species" though, or just a subspecies of cat. Apparently the teeth are pretty unique, which makes it species-worthy.

Whatever it is, cool story.
 
The Shrike said:
Color me skeptical on this being anything other than genetic drift on an island population of domesticated cat.
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You think it's an island population of domestic cat (Felis catus), while I think it's an island population of European wildcat (Felis silvestris).
 
LiveScience said:
When the researchers examined the DNA from that fur, they found these cat-foxes weren't related to any known species around the world, but their DNA was similar to that of the African forest cat (Felis silvestris lybica).
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This would have been where they say the DNA was similar to domestic cat (F. catus), if it were more similar to that than the African forest cat.

I just don't think it's descended from domestic cat because that should be revealed in the DNA.
 
The specimen in the photograph of the article doesn't strike me as noticeably larger than a domestic cat, or indeed noticeably different in any immediately visible respect.
 
These particular Frenchies have to go down as some of the worst researchers in history, or we're reading some of the worst reporting, evah. According to Live Science, they've been studying them for about twelve years. Seems that in one picture, there's a guy holding one.In another journal, it looks like a different cat anesthetized and they're showing it's dentistry.

Even assuming it's the same moggie in both pics, couldn't they get clearer DNA results than some hair they scraped off a branch from a few years back? I mean, that babe on CSI (not the camel toe one, the one with the rack) only needs a five year old sweat stain. Or can they identify from the markers but the reporting just wants to leave the question open for future clicks. (The journalist seems to be legit, with credits at both Live Science and Scientific American but I'm not seeing a lot of field work. I doubt she traveled to Corsica for the article.)
 
I should have read the article before commencing the crossbreeding experiments. In a few weeks I'll have several litters of fottens and kixes which will grow into fots and caxes. Does anybody have any recipes?
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
I see the cat, hard to see the fox in it.
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Checkmite said:
The specimen in the photograph of the article doesn't strike me as noticeably larger than a domestic cat, or indeed noticeably different in any immediately visible respect.
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Seriously! I don't see "fox" at all. Every picture I've seen looks like a slightly larger than average cat. I feel like I'm being gas lit. I'm still not sure this isn't some sort of hoax. At most, I expect it to be just an inbred population of feral domestic cats or closely related wild cats.
 
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