Tag: africa

Culture

The Killer Lions of Tsavo

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Meredith Hemphill

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Encyclopaedia Felidae now has a Patreon! Go to www.patreon.com/EncyclopaediaFelidae if you want to help support this content!

Pride of Tsavo lions
Lions in Tsavo National Park, Kenya

Humans are not at the top of the food chain. Throughout history, big cats have sometimes made a meal of us [5]. Although lions typically prefer large prey like buffalo and wildebeest, a 5000-year-old Egyptian cosmetic palette depicting lions eating the fallen on the battlefield tells us that lions have been known to prey upon people for a long time [5]. But one episode of human-lion conflict at the end of the nineteenth century really captured the popular imagination. The “man-eating” lions of Tsavo (SAH-vo) terrorized the Tsavo region of Kenya for nine months in 1898 [1-7] and may have preyed on humans unnoticed for several years prior [5]. The man who killed them, J. H. Patterson, was hailed as a hero [4, 5]. He estimated that the lions killed as many as 135 people [1-3, 5-7].

The Lions, the Colonel, and the Railroad

The lion’s roar was such that the very earth would tremble at the sound, and where was the man who did not feel afraid?

From epic poem gifted to Col. Patterson by his work crew [4]

The British Colonial Office was building a railway from the port of Mombasa, Kenya, to Nairobi, which was then in Uganda [3-5, 7]. Then they reached the Tsavo River. Tsavo means “place of slaughter” [3, 4]. Building a rail bridge over the river proved much harder than anticipated, at first mostly for engineering reasons such as locating the right type of stone locally [4]. So they hired a civil engineer to lead the Tsavo bridge project: Colonel J. H. Patterson [2-6]. Construction began in March 1898 [2, 4]. Very soon, he encountered a problem his education did not prepare him for.

“Our work was soon interrupted in a rude and startling manner. Two most voracious and insatiable man-eating lions appeared upon the scene, and for over nine months waged an intermittent warfare against the railway and all those connected with it in the vicinity of Tsavo,” Col. Patterson explained in his 1907 book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo and other East African Adventures [4]. They were large male lions without manes, working together, which is atypical behavior for lions. They attacked at night, tearing through the protective walls of thorns, called bomas, that the rail workers built around their camps, and then dragging sleeping people from their tents off into the bush [4].

Col. Patterson considered it his responsibility to do something to protect his work crew, so he turned everything he’d learned from his big game hunting hobby toward killing the Tsavo lions [4]. But the lions managed to evade him for months. They never struck the same encampment twice in a row, making it impossible for him to stake them out [4]. At first the lions were easily kept at bay by fire and loud noises, but they became less and less afraid of human things as time wore on [4]. The only thing that seemed to deter them was being out of their reach, so the crew went on strike December 1st to be allowed to build elevated sleeping platforms [4]. It was this work stoppage that finally brought the slaughter to international attention [5].

J. H. Patterson and Tsavo lion
Col. Patterson with first Tsavo lion – Photo from Field Museum on Wikimedia Commons

Later that month, however, Col. Patterson finally caught a break. He baited the lions with the corpse of a donkey that one of them had already killed when attacking a camp [4]. He hoped that one or both lions would come back to finish eating their kill, so he had a rickety platform built to keep watch on [4]. The lion did return, but decided to stalk Col. Patterson instead [4]! Col. Patterson managed to shoot the lion dead before being killed himself [4]. A couple weeks later, he baited the second lion with a trio of goats and killed it as well [4, 5]. Both lions were over 9 feet (2.7 m) long [4, 6].

Col. Patterson detailed the deaths of 14 victims in his book but put the total at “no less than twenty-eight Indian coolies, in addition to scores of unfortunate African natives of whom no official record was kept” [4]. The railroad office in London recorded the deaths of 28 railroad workers who fell prey to the Tsavo lions [3, 5]. Col. Patterson later specified that 107 locals were killed, which is how we get the 135 number [5]. However, research conducted at the Field Museum many years later estimated that the lions actually consumed about 35 people during their lifetimes [1, 2]. Human flesh made up about 30% of one lion’s diet and 13% of the other’s [1].

Why did the lions of Tsavo become man-eaters?

Patterson didn’t give much attention to this question, giving only such dismissive explanations as the lions’ incredible savageness and “sheer insolent contempt for man” [4, 6]. In his time and place, animal behavior and cognition were not front of mind. The lions killed humans because they were evil, and that was that [4]. But we have learned a lot about why animals do what they do in the past 125 years. Researchers have come up with several theories of what motivated the lions of Tsavo to kill and eat humans.

Bad Teeth

In the late 1990s, researchers examined the skulls of the Tsavo man-eaters and discovered significant dental problems [1, 2, 5]. The first lion Col. Patterson killed had a severely broken canine that exposed the tooth pulp, a root tip abscess, and three missing incisors [1-3, 5]. The scientists believed the injuries happened early in life because the lion’s jaws had changed shape from the asymmetry of its teeth [1, 5]. They hypothesized that the injuries were caused by a kick or strike from the horn of the lion’s prey and may have made it difficult for him to catch the tough-skinned wild animals lions typically prey upon [1-3, 5]. He may have made a habit of hunting slow, squishy humans as a matter of necessity [1-3, 5].

Lion skull with broken teeth
Severe dental trauma of Tsavo man-eater – Photo from Peterhans, Julian, & Gnoske [5]

The second lion had minor dental injuries: two broken teeth, one an old injury and one new [5]. These type of dental injuries are common among wild lions, though, and the researchers didn’t think they were enough to change the lion’s behavior [1, 5]. If the two lions already hunted together, however, the second lion may have taken his friend’s lead in hunting new prey [5].

Field Museum scientists studied the wear and tear patterns on the Tsavo man-eaters’ teeth and concluded that they had not been crunching up bones like wild lions normally do [1, 2]. Their teeth looked more like those of zoo lions [1, 2]. This supports the idea that the two lions were eating a softer diet [2]. But while there is a wide belief that lions and other big cats who eat humans are usually old, sick, or injured, statistically that is not the case [5]. A study in 2014 of the skulls of lions that preyed on humans and/or livestock, a.k.a. “problem lions,” found that most were healthy and in the prime of their lives [5]. Those that were debilitated usually had leg injuries that made it difficult for them to chase down and grasp prey, rather than tooth problems [5].

Cultured Beasts

The idea that non-human animals have their own cultures might seem strange, but many species have been shown to exhibit differences in behavior between subpopulations that can only be explained as knowledge passed through the generations [5]. Tsavo lions have some of these cultural differences that set them apart from neighboring lion populations [5, 7]. The lions of Tsavo live in prides about half the size of Serengeti lions, with only one male and up to ten females [7]. There is never more than one male in the pride in Tsavo [7]. Tsavo lions are also known for preying on humans [5, 7].

Humans may have taught the lions this habit [5, 7]. For centuries, Arab slave traders used the same routes through Tsavo to the port at Mombasa [5, 7]. Along the way, many of the slaves would die from sickness or maltreatment [5, 7]. The dead and dying were left where they fell [5, 7]. Lions are known for being predators, but they will scavenge, too [5, 6]. They likely learned that humans were a good food source by feeding on the bodies of those slaves [3, 5, 7].

Through the generations, the lions remembered that humans are prey. The Kenya-Uganda railway was built along an old caravan path that had probably provided the lions of Tsavo with much human and livestock prey in the past [5]. When thousands of largely unprotected workmen appeared on the path, it may have seemed like a dinner invitation to a pair of young lions.

Changing Environment

Some big changes in the lions’ environment could have prompted them to change their hunting behavior. For one, lions are ambush predators, like almost all felines, so they prefer to hunt from within vegetation or other natural cover [5]. The Tsavo region is especially hot and dry, with the vegetation growing as tangled thornbush called “nyika” [4-6]. The ivory trade significantly reduced the number of elephants in the region by the 1890s, and fewer elephants led to more vegetation [5]. In his book, Col. Patterson describes literally crawling through the nyika looking for the killer lions [4]. These thickets made it easier for the lions to ambush the rail workers [5].

The pair of lions’ interest in the rail workers may have stemmed from environmental changes as well. Since the 1860s, Tsavo had been suffering from severe drought and famine as well as epidemics of cholera and plague [4, 6]. This reduced the population of wild prey, but it also led to large numbers of dead and dying humans left in the wilderness for the lions to eat instead, training them on the new food source [6]. Exacerbating the lions’ plight was a dire epidemic of rinderpest, a deadly cattle disease that also affects many wild herd animals [3, 5-7]. Rinderpest is native to Asia and arrived in Africa in 1887 through infected cattle from India [6]. The first African rinderpest epidemic killed 95% of Ethiopia’s cattle [6]. Buffalo, favorite prey of lions in Tsavo, are particularly vulnerable [5]. With the lions’ usual prey depleted, the switch to humans may have been a simple and practical decision.

Visit the Lions of Tsavo

Author with lions of Tsavo at Field Museum
Selfie with the lions of Tsavo – Photo by author

After killing the Tsavo man-eaters, Col. Patterson skinned them both and turned them into trophy rugs [2]. In 1925, he sold the skins to the Chicago Field Museum, where they were mounted as taxidermy specimens and displayed in a diorama [2, 3]. They are still on display with the mammals of Africa in the Rice Gallery [2]. I’ve been to see them myself, and I highly recommend visiting the Field Museum if you can.

You can also visit Tsavo National Park in Kenya and see the living lions of Tsavo that still roam the same land Col. Patterson’s man-eaters once stalked. It is one of Africa’s largest game reserves, sporting about 675 lions within the ecosystem as well as a wide variety of other wildlife. [7]

Works Cited

  1. DeSantis, L. R. G. and Patterson, B. D. (2017). Dietary behaviour of man-eating lions as revealed by dental microwear textures. Scientific Reports, 7, 904. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-00948-5
  2. Field Museum. (2018, February 10). Tsavo lions. https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/tsavo-lions
  3. Newbart, D. (2004, August/September). Mystery of the man-eating lions. National Wildlife.
  4. Patterson, J. H. (1907). The man-eaters of Tsavo. The Lyons Press: Guilford, CT.
  5. Peterhans, K., Julian, C., and Gnoske, T. P. (2001). The science of ‘man-eating’ among lions Panthera leo with a reconstruction of the natural history of the ‘man-eaters of Tsavo.’ Journal of East African Natural History, 90(1), 1-40. https://doi.org/10.2982/0012-8317
  6. Tomasula y Garcia, A. (2014) The lions of Tsavo: man-made man-eaters. Western Humanities Review, 68(1), 195-200.
  7. Tsavo National Park. (n.d.). Tsavo National Park lions. https://www.tsavonationalparkkenya.com/tsavo-national-park-lions/

Published July 23rd, 2023

Culture

The Goddess Bastet and the Ancient Egyptian Cat Cult

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Meredith Hemphill

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Encyclopaedia Felidae now has a Patreon! Go to www.patreon.com/EncyclopaediaFelidae if you want to help support this content!

Bronze Bastet figurine
Late Period bronze figurine of Bastet in the Louvre Museum – photo by Rama on Wikimedia Commons

Cats and humans have a long and complicated relationship that dates back thousands of years. Their earliest interactions are a bit murky, but many historians believe that cats were first domesticated in ancient Egypt, where they became an important part of the culture. The relationship between ancient Egyptians and their cats is exemplified by the cat-headed goddess Bastet and her cult of feline worship.

The Rise of Bastet

Bastet, also known as Bast or Basht, was the daughter of the sun god Ra and the goddess of fertility, childbirth, protection (especially of women and children), and the home [1-5]. In early depictions, Bastet has the head of a lioness, but as her popularity rose during the New Kingdom, she came to be associated with domestic cats instead [2, 3]. These depictions of the goddess typically show her with a sistrum, a percussion instrument, in her right hand [1, 2, 4, 5]. The goddess is also represented as a seated cat [1-5].

Feline Domestication

Egyptians first encountered cats in the form of Felis chaus, the jungle cat, and Felis lybica, the African wildcat [1]. Both species look a bit like the modern housecat, but it was F. lybica that became the ancestor of the domestic cat, Felis catus [1]. F. lybica is smaller, less aggressive, and lived closer to that civilization than F. chaus [1]. The African wildcat’s striped yellowish or orangish fur was passed down to domestic cats [1].

Bronze Egyptian cat statue
Bronze Egyptian cat statue (663-525 B.C.E.) in the Worchester Art Museum – photo by Daderot on Wikimedia Commons

Cats were not so much domesticated by humans; they domesticated themselves. There were two major threats in the daily lives of ancient Egyptians: venomous snakes and rodents eating their crops [1]. Large concentrations of people attract lots of rodents eager to take advantage of their food stores and garbage. Snakes are attracted by rodents as well as the nice, warm human dwellings. But the wildcats came into town to hunt the rodents and the snakes, and ancient Egyptians were pleased with the results [1]. Villagers went out of their way to encourage the pest patrol to stay, and the wildcats were happy to stay where prey was plentiful and predators were few [1]. A partnership of sorts developed, and as the wildcats became used to humans, they became less wild [1]. Eventually, they became pets, and then, little goddesses in the flesh [1].

Worship of Bastet

Bastet’s center of worship and grandest temple was at Bubastis [1-4]. A major reason for Bastet’s meteoric rise in popularity was that Bubastis became the capital in the first millennium [1]. The Greek historian Herodotus described the temple as a square edifice of stone built on an island with channels to either side and a grove of trees planted in its central courtyard [4]. The temple provided a variety of social services for Bubastis, such as medical care, food, and counseling [4]. Worshippers traveled from all over the country came to the temple at Bubastis which was, unsurprisingly, filled with thousands of pampered cats [1]. The devoted gave offerings to the goddess such as figurines in the shape of cats or Bastet herself, jars of perfume, and mummified cats [1, 2, 4].

Cat mummy in sarcophagus
Cat mummy in sarcophagus (305 B.C.E.) at the Brooklyn Museum – photo from Wikipedia Loves Art Project

Cat Mummies

Oh yes, mummified cats. Pet cats could be brought to the temple for mummification and burial, presumably so these beloved family members could join their human companions in the afterlife [1]. However, cats were also mummified specifically to offer to Bastet [1, 4]. The ancient Egyptians did this with other animals as well, including ibises and dogs. Archeologists discovered one cat cemetery in Bubastis, dating to about 900 B.C.E., which contained close to 300,000 mummies [1]!

Egyptologists believe that the priests of Bastet maintained catteries at her temples to mass-produce cat mummies [1]. They would sell the mummies to pilgrims looking to make an offering at the temple [1]. Analysis of these mummies often reveals head or neck trauma, indicating a violent death and untimely death [1]. Diodorus Siculus, another Greek historian, reported that anyone in ancient Egypt who was found to have killed a cat would immediately be put to death via mob justice [1]. If this is true, I can only assume that these mummy factories were not common knowledge, and archeology discovered a very, very long-buried scandal.

The Festival of Bastet at Bubastis

Egyptian bronze cat with kittens
Late Ptolemaic Period Cat with Kittens (664-30 B.C.E.) – photo from Brooklyn Museum on Wikimedia Commons

Every year, a big festival was thrown in honor of Bastet at Bubastis [1, 3, 4]. Much of what we know about this event comes from Herodotus as well [1, 3, 4]. There could be 700,000 worshippers in attendance [1, 3, 4]. The festival resembled Carnivale or Mardi Gras in its wild revelry [4]. It began with attendees traveling to Bubastis by river, singing and dancing and playing music all the way [3, 4]. Upon reaching Bubastis, the festival would turn into a citywide party [1, 3, 4]. Unhindered celebration with music and wine was believed to please Bastet and perhaps represented her nature as a fertility deity [3, 4].

“But when they have reached Bubastis, they make a festival with great sacrifices, and more wine is drunk at this feast than in the whole year besides.”

Herodotus, Histories, Book 11.60

Works Cited

  1. Adams, A. L. (2021). For the love of Bastet: A history of cats in ancient Egypt. Veterinary Heritage, 44(1), 27-33.
  2. Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2022, September 16). Bastet. In Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bastet
  3. Lange-Athinodorou, E. (n.d.). The goddess Bastet and the cult of feline deities in the Nile delta. American Research Center in Egypt. https://www.arce.org/resource/goddess-bastet-and-cult-feline-deities-nile-delta
  4. Mark, J. J. (2016, July 24). Bastet. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/Bastet/
  5. Scott, N. E. (1958). The cat of Bastet. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 17(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.2307/3258805

Published 28 November 2022

Breed Profiles

Egyptian Mau: Cat of the Pharaohs

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Meredith Hemphill

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Encyclopaedia Felidae now has a Patreon! Go to www.patreon.com/EncyclopaediaFelidae if you want to help support this content!

Bronze Egyptian Mau cat
Bronze Egyptian Mau – Image by liz west via Wikimedia Commons

The art of the ancient Egyptians frequently depicts cats, an animal which they considered sacred. The cats in their artwork bear a striking resemblance to a modern cat breed, the Egyptian Mau. Some believe that Egyptian Maus are actually the direct descendants of those ancient cats, a divine bloodline carried through the feral street cats of Cairo and into these pedigreed beauties. Maybe that’s true and maybe it isn’t. Egyptian Maus are special in their own right, and no cat needs to be told they deserve to be worshipped.

The male cat is Ra himself, and he is called by reason of the speech of the god Sa, who said concerning him, “He is like unto that which he hath made, thus his name became ‘Mau.'”

Egyptian Book of the Dead, 240 BCE

Along the River Nile?

According to legend, the history of the Egyptian Mau goes all the way back to ancient Egypt. Egyptian art and papyri dating as far back as 1550 BCE show similar spotted cats (9). The cats are shown assisting on duck hunts as well as in religious contexts (8, 9). However, we only know for sure that the Egyptian Mau was bred and shown in Europe in the early twentieth century (2, 4, 7, 8). Then World War II broke out, and cat fancy was one of the many things to be interrupted. Many breeding programs fell by the wayside during the war, and at its end very few Egyptian Maus remained (2, 4, 7, 8). The breed needed a hero, but not a knight in shining armor. They needed a princess to save them.

Princess Natalie Troubetskoy (or Trubetskaya) was living in exile in Rome (2, 4, 7, 8, 10). While there, she was given a silver, spotted female kitten (2). In one version of the story, the kitten came from a boy who had been keeping her in a shoebox (2). In another, the Egyptian ambassador to Italy gave her to Princess Natalie (2, 5). The princess named the kitten Baba (2, 8). She loved Baba’s unusual spotted coat. Princess Natalie bred Baba, and Baba had two kittens: a silver female, Liza, and a bronze male, Jojo, both spotted like their mother (1, 10). Princess Natalie immigrated to New York City in 1956 and brought the three cats with her (1, 2, 4, 8, 10). There, she established the Fatima Cattery to breed Egyptian Maus and wrote a breed standard (2, 4, 7, 10).

The Egyptian Mau was well-received, but early breeders faced a serious dilemma. The gene pool was miniscule. Inbreeding was inevitable, and the cats soon began to have problems. Diseases included cardiomyopathy and asthma cropped up (10). Aggressive and disagreeable temperaments were a pervasive problem as well (7, 10). The only solution was to bring more cats into the breeding program. During the 1980s and 90s, cats with a similar type were imported from Egypt and India, including the Delhi Zoo (4, 5, 8, 10). Although Egyptian Maus remain a less common breed, the gene pool is now much larger, and the problems that were pervasive in early breeding lines have largely disappeared (10).

How Egyptian is the Egyptian Mau?

Phylogenetic tree showing genetic relatedness of 24 cat breeds – Menotti-Raymond et al., 2008, Fig. 4

Genetic tools enable all kinds of interesting discoveries. Apparently I’m 0.4% Coptic Egyptian. But how Egyptian is the Egyptian Mau? The long-standing narrative assumes a direct line of descent from African wildcats to ancient Egyptian domestic cats to Egyptian Maus. Studies of the genetic variance between cat breeds and populations of non-pedigreed cats throws a monkey wrench into that story, however.

Genetic studies suggest significant European influences on the Egyptian Mau (4-6, 8). The waters are a bit muddy even here. Egyptian Maus were found to be more closely related to random-bred cats from Turkey and Tunisia than those from Egypt (5). A mitochondrial DNA analysis, which follows the maternal line, grouped Egyptian Maus with the Siamese, Russian Blue, Abyssinian, and Korat (5). Those breeds all have an Asian origin. Later studies using different methods have grouped the Egyptian Mau with Turkish Angoras and Turkish Vans (5, 6). A Turkish origin seems likely, based on the genetic evidence. As little is known about the breed before Princess Natalie revived it, pretty much anything is on the table.

Breed Characteristics

House Cheetahs

The thing that makes Egyptian Maus stand out is their spots. In fact, they are the only* naturally spotted breed of cat. This means that no one selectively bred them to try to engineer a spotted coat. They did it all on their own. Cat fanciers and cat people in general liked how their spotted coats resemble a wild cat. But these kitties aren’t hybrids like Savannahs and Bengals. They just look the part.

Their dark spots cover the body but can vary in shape and size (3, 10). They have “vest button” spots lining their pale undersides (1, 2). Egyptian Maus have a dark stripe running alone the length of their backs and tails (1). Their facial markings stand out as well. An M on their foreheads marks Egyptian Maus as a type of tabby, although you might not think of a spotted cat that way (1-4, 8). In this breed, that M is sometimes called “the mark of the scarab” because it allegedly resembles the pattern on the shell of the scarab beetle (3, 8). Egyptian Maus also have stripes resembling eyeliner running from the outer corner of each eye (1, 2, 4, 8). Their tails have dark stripes and tips (1, 4).

Only three colors of Egyptian Mau are accepted for showing: silver, bronze, and smoke. The silver has black markings on a light gray base. The bronze is thought to most closely resemble the cats of ancient Egypt, based upon the art they left behind (3). It has dark brown or black markings on a light brown base color. The smoke has solid black markings on a black smoke coat, where each hair is white with a black tip. The breed does come in a few other colors, including solids, but only as pets.

CFA Premier Shainefer’s Albion Argent, a silver Egyptian Mau – Image by Catbar via Wikimedia Commons

The Egyptian Mau is a medium-sized cat with a muscular yet graceful body. The hind legs are a little longer than the forelegs. Egyptian Maus have a flap of loose skin from their flanks to their hind knees which enables their back legs to stretch out farther when running (4, 7-10). Cheetah’s have a similar skin fold. This enables Egyptian Maus to be incredible runners and jumpers (4, 8-10).

Their heads strongly resemble ancient Egyptian depictions of cats. The shape is a rounded wedge with medium-to-large ears set well apart. The eyes are large, almond-shaped, and slant slightly upward. They are a characteristic gooseberry green color. Kittens can take a while to fully develop this eye color, and it sometimes becomes paler with age.

*The only recognized one, that is. There are others, such as the Bahraini Dilmun Cat, but they are not recognized by any cat fancy association.

Personality

Egyptian Maus are fiercely loyal cats. They bond strongly to their person or family. These cats are people-oriented and enjoy spending time with whoever they taken a shine to. They usually don’t like strangers and tend to hide around guests. Socialization at a young age is important to help them be as social as possible. If you adopt an adult Egyptian Mau, don’t be surprised if it takes a while for them to warm up to you. They just need extra patience. The wait will be worth it.

Egyptian Maus communicate quietly and charmingly. They typically use softer vocalizations like chirps and one all their own called a chortle. When pleased, they tread their feet. If excited, they “wiggle tail.” Incidentally, my Joon does this too, and it is truly bizarre. It looks like what cats do with their tails when they’re spraying, but without the spraying. I’m sort of relieved to know other cats do that, too. I digress.

The Egyptian Mau is an active breed. They enjoy games and puzzles, and some even like to play in water. Fetch tends to be a favorite. They can sometimes be possessive, including of their toys, so supervise an Egyptian Mau when they’re playing with a child or another animal until you know what to expect.

Egyptian Mau vs. Fish Toy

Caring for an Egyptian Mau

The Egyptian Mau is not known to have breed-specific health problems anymore. The addition of new, random-bred cats to the breeding population turned it into a very healthy breed. They don’t require extensive grooming, either, just the occasional brushing that any shorthair benefits from. As far as pedigreed cats go, Egyptian Maus are pretty low-maintenance, but there are some things to keep in mind.

While not hyperactive, these are athletic cats that will need plenty of places to climb. They may be good candidates for leash walking to work those long legs. Don’t forget that they are excellent jumpers, so they can probably reach heights that many cats couldn’t. Deprive them of a cat tree at your peril. They are excellent hunters, so playtime that mimics natural hunting behavior–and gets their favorite human involved–is a great way to give them some exercise, too.

Egyptian Maus get along pretty well with children, other cats, and dogs, as long as they are properly introduced. Remember, though, they aren’t fond of strangers, so new pets need to be introduced very carefully and slowly. An Egyptian Mau that wasn’t well-socialized to other animals as a kitten may not be able to cope at all. Proceed with caution. When it comes to small animals, proceed with even greater caution. The Egyptian Mau loves to hunt. Unfortunately, they see pet birds, rodents, etc. no differently than any other prey animal and might kill them (2, 8). If you have any pets that a cat might see as prey, make absolutely sure that your Egyptian Mau cannot get to them.

If you are considering an Egyptian Mau of your very own, try the CFA Egyptian Mau Breed Council Rescue or The Egyptian Mau Club‘s re-homing list. You can also check with your local shelters. Purebred go to the pound, too.

Fun Facts

  • The word “mau” comes from the Middle Egyptian “mjw,” meaning both “cat” and “sun.” (3, 6)
  • Egyptian Maus often don’t lose their baby teeth until their permanent teeth have already come in. This means, sometime between four and seven months old, they can have two full sets of teeth! (10)
  • The Egyptian Mau gestation period is longer than usual for cats. Most cats kit after about 63 days, but Egyptian Maus can have their kittens a week later with no problems. (4, 10)
  • The Egyptian Mau is the fastest breed of domestic cat. They can run at speeds up to 30 mph (48.3 kph)! (2, 4, 8)

Works Cited

  1. Alderton, D. (1992). Cats: The visual guide to more than 250 types of cats from around the world. Dorling Kindersley Limited: London.
  2. CatTime. (n.d.). Egyptian Mau. TotallyHer Media, LLC. https://cattime.com/cat-breeds/egyptian-mau-cats#/slide/1
  3. Edwards, A. (2006). The ultimate encyclopedia of cat, cat breeds, and cat care. Hermes House: London.
  4. Fawcett, K. (2016, June 24). 6 fast facts about Egyptian Mau cats. Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/81610/6-fast-facts-about-egyptian-mau-cats
  5. Hartwell, S. (2013). Cat-breed DNA studies: True origins or legitimising impostors? Messybeast.com. http://messybeast.com/dna-studies-critique.htm
  6. Menotti-Raymond, M., David, V. A., Pflueger, S. M., Lindblad-Toh, K., et al. (2008). Patterns of molecular genetic variation among cat breeds. Genomics, 91(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygeno.2007.08.008
  7. Petfinder. (n.d.). Egyptian Mau. https://www.petfinder.com/cat-breeds/egyptian-mau/
  8. Syufy, F. (2019, September 22). Egyptian Mau: Cat breed profile. The Spruce Pets. https://www.thesprucepets.com/egyptian-mau-breed-profile-554215
  9. The Cat Fanciers’ Association. (n.d.). About the Egyptian Mau. CFA.org. https://cfa.org/egyptian-mau/
  10. The Egyptian Mau. (2002). CFA.org. https://cfa.org/egyptian-mau/egyptian-mau-article-2002/

Published March 14, 2021

Culture

Werecats, Part IV: The Ferocious Wereleopard

mehshadoweye

Meredith Hemphill

mehshadoweye

Encyclopaedia Felidae now has a Patreon! Go to www.patreon.com/EncyclopaediaFelidae if you want to help support this content!

Woman in leopard-print onesie
Photo by Love2401 from Pixabay

There are many parts of the world where more than one species of large cat is obliged to coexist, and the same is true for werecats. Wereleopards are part of folk beliefs in parts of Africa and Asia, where they share their territory with other fearsome werecats. However, the wereleopards are not diminished by having to share. In fact, this is easily the wildest werecat article I’ve written yet, because in the 1940s, wereleopards were blamed for over 200 real-life murders in Nigeria (1, 7). Get ready for cat blogging to take a detour into true crime.

Wereleopards in India

A wereleopard outpost exists in the land of weretigers. In an area on the India-Burma border known as the Naga Hills, there is a tradition of overlapping wereleopard and weretiger lore. Wereleopards seem to be primarily an African phenomenon, so this is sort of a cultural outlier. But wherever there are leopards, there might be wereleopards.

The Angami and Sema people hold that there are no physical transformations, but that wereleopards project their souls into the body of a wild leopard (5). The human and leopard then become closely associated with each other (5). The leopard’s body actually changes. Such leopards can be recognized because they have five toes on each paw (5). Felines normally have five toes on their forepaws and four on their hind paws. J.H. Hutton, who wrote about the werecat beliefs of the Naga people, observed the body of such a leopard (5). Then again, as you may recall from my article on Hemingway cats, extra toes/polydactyly is a common, benign mutation in felines.

There are several ways the Naga peoples believe someone can become a wereleopard. The Angami say there is a spring of either blood or blood-red water, drinking from which turns a person into a wereleopard or weretiger (5). The Sema think one becomes a wereleopard through possession by spirits, often involuntarily (5). However, this possession is contagious, so if somebody wanted to be a wereleopard, they could do it by spending all their time with a known wereleopard for at least two months (5). The would-be wereleopard must sleep in the existing wereleopard’s bed, eat from the same dish, and never leave their side (5).

According to some, an easier method is to have a wereleopard feed them pieces of chicken with ginger–first six, then five, and then three pieces on crossed plantain leaves (5). It’s considered dangerous to finish food or drink that a wereleopard has left behind, as the condition might accidentally be acquired that way (5). To me, that seems like the easiest way to become a wereleopard if you wanted to. Just make a habit of polishing off everyone’s leftovers and hope for the best. Not very sanitary, but also very low-effort.

The soul usually enters the leopard at night during sleep and returns in the morning, but it may remain in the leopard for several days at a time (5). While the human soul is out doing leopard things, the human body continues to conduct business as usual, but in a sort of zombie-like state (5). As usual, any injuries sustained by the leopard body are reflected by the human one (5). They appear a few days later, typically in the form of boils or similar marks in the place where the leopard was injured (5). Death to the leopard body causes death to the human (5). Curiously, death is not immediate, but rather only occurs once the wereleopard finds out that their leopard has been killed (5).

Leopard
Photo by MIGUEL PEREZ from Pixabay

The sentiments about wereleopards vary. It seems that in these cultures, people aren’t too fussed about someone being a wereleopard as long as they don’t cause too much trouble. Friends and family may even go to great effort to protect a wereleopard’s leopard body (5). The killing of a lot of livestock, or of people, by a suspected wereleopard could lead to punitive action, however (5).

Wereleopards in Africa

Wereleopards in Africa may be obliged to share their turf with werelions, and like werelions they sometimes represent leadership and authority (2, 3). Some Egyptian pharaohs took the leopard as their personal symbol (2). However, wereleopards can be at least as dangerous as regular leopards. Importantly, wereleopards are capable of human thoughts and motivations. They may act with malicious intent to get revenge on their enemies (4).

Wereleopards do have their weaknesses, of course. As seems to universally be the case, a wereleopard’s human body is subject to the injuries of its leopard form, just like in the lore of the Naga Hills. Sometimes this is said to manifest as respiratory illness if the leopard was chased by something for a long time (3). Wounds to the leopard may appear as sores (3) or as identical wounds on the human body (4, 5, 7).

How to Become a Wereleopard

In a Bantu legend, a man became a wereleopard by first asking his wife to cook a ridiculous quantity of stiff manioc porridge. He then took the porridge into the forest and shaped it into a duplicate of himself. In the market, he bought a fetish which had the power to turn a person into a wereleopard. He went to a crossroads in the forest and beat his body with a pestle until he metamorphosed into a leopard. His porridge body then got up, went home, and replaced him without anyone noticing the difference. (6)

It doesn’t always have to be quite so complicated. Alternatively, one could just drink a potion made of human organs (8). Or one could be killed and eaten by a leopard, which allows the human soul to travel into the leopard and turn the cat into a wereleopard (10). I imagine not many people pick that option on purpose.

Wereleopards were sometimes believed to be the descendants of a leopard deity that produced shapeshifting children with a human partner (8). In such a case, the ability could simply be inherited.

Identifying a Wereleopard

People who are especially fast runners, strong fighters, agile jumpers, or skilled dancers or moved with a feline gait were said to be possible wereleopards (3, 9). Upon autopsy, black spots on one or both lungs were a sure sign (3). If both lungs were marked, the person had two leopards (3). The lungs can also become discolored because of disease, but there is one sign I guarantee indicates, if not a wereleopard, at least something unusual. Wereleopards in human form sometimes had a second mouth on the back of their head (11)!

Some stories claimed that the leopard form could also be distinguished. It might, for instance, have ten tails, which would certainly stand out (11). Wereleopards move in groups, but leopards are primarily solitary, so this can distinguish them as well (3). In the absence of nine extra tails, that is.

The Leopard Murders

Close-up of leopard
Photo by Tobias Heine from Pixabay

Wereleopards were real and present for the cultures that believed in them for centuries untold. When European countries carved Africa up into colonies, the colonizers disregarded wereleopards along with all other native beliefs. In 1940s Nigeria, however, the British administration had to face wereleopards head-on, whether they were willing to believe in them or not. Between 1943 and 1948, over 200 people were killed and mutilated in a bizarre and devastating crime wave for which 77 people hanged (7). These were the Leopard Murders, and to this day no one is 100% sure what really happened.

Nothing to See Here

The leopard murders took place in two districts of British Nigeria, Abak and Opobo. The native culture lacked central authority (7). Instead, secret societies were a primary governing force (7). These secret societies performed religious, administrative, judicial, and policing functions (7). British authority in the area was fairly hands-off before the murders, with a small police presence (7).

The timeline begins in 1943, although it’s possible that earlier deaths went unnoticed. Even the first leopard murders were not remarked upon. Police and medical examiners concluded that the victims had all been killed by wild animals (7). Leopard prints, scat, and hair were sometimes find at the scene (7). However, a pattern was forming. Here’s where we talk about corpses, so skip the next paragraph if you don’t want to know.

Most of the victims were killed at dusk along bush paths (7). The bodies usually had bruises on the back of the head, the head and face torn off, and one arm skinned, severed, and thrown a few feet from the body (7). Deep, irregular scratches marred the chest and shoulders (7). Sometimes the heart, lungs, and/or other internal organs were missing (7).

In March 1945, the new District Officer for Abak, F.R. Kay, became suspicious (7). The consistency and precision of the mutilations didn’t seem likely for a wild animal to Kay (7). He also thought it improbable that a leopard would excise chest organs but leave the abdomen and large muscle tissue untouched (7). Predators tend to go for the abdominal organs first, as they’re easy to access and highly nutritious. But that wasn’t all that bothered him. Some of the “animal attack” victims had had clothing removed and money stolen from their wallets (7). Once, the purported leopard wrapped its victim’s head in her loincloth (7).

On the Tail of a Murder Cult

Kay teamed up with the District Officer of Opobo, J.G.C. Allen, to investigate (7). They soon became convinced that the accumulating deaths were the doing of a murder cult (7). They suspected a new secret society called Ekpe Owo, meaning “leopard men,” which had putatively evolved from the policing secret society Ekpe (7). The police were told that some members of Ekpe had obtained a medicine that turned them into wereleopards (7). After that, the new Ekpe Owo began working as a society of murderers-for-hire, violently solving disputes among the natives that the British courts didn’t understand or couldn’t handle (7).

Kay and Allen raised quite a stir. A large police force was sent in to root out the murderous leopard society that Kay and Allen were certain was to blame (7). The native locals were put upon to feed and take care of the police presence (7). Despite the sometimes oppressive efforts of the police, and plenty of convictions, the killings continued. The news media in Europe began to pick up on the salacious case, and the police felt the pressure to make progress (7). Their solution was to send an even larger force, with the express intention of annoying the locals so much that they would tell the police everything they knew just to make them go away (7).

The new leopard force operated much as the previous one, and killings continued much as before, too (7). Public hangings of the convicted were instituted as a deterrent and a curfew was put in place, as most of the murders were perpetrated in the evening (7). The locals did not much appreciate any of the policework (7). So far, it had apparently saved no lives and caused them a great deal of difficulty. Things only got worse when the first European was killed, a police officer no less, in January of 1947 (7). The police responded by making the entire Idiong secret society illegal because the individual suspects belonged to it (7). Hundreds of Idiong shrines were destroyed (7).

Leopard laying on fallen tree
Photo by ejakob from Pixabay

Who You Gonna McCall?

In August of 1947, J.A.G. McCall became the new District Officer over both Opobo and Abak (7). He was skeptical of the murder cult theory. He believed that normal leopards were behind most, if not all, of the killings (1, 7). McCall also had things to say about the behavior of the police. He denounced the bullying tactics the police had been using (7). He also called the police out on their poor evidence-gathering technique (1, 7). In some cases, police never even visited the crime scene (1, 7)!

McCall was particularly bothered by the fact that there had been no leopard murders north of the Qua Ibo river in villages of the same culture (1). There was a bridge across the river, so it would have been no problem for a human perpetrator, or a real wereleopard, for that matter, to cross and commit murder (1). But such a barrier is much more difficult for animals to cross. He also noted that leopard murders were more numerous where the natural prey of leopards had been overhunted and was in short supply (1).

McCall undertook a campaign of leopard trapping and killing in attempt to rid the area of the alleged man-eaters (1, 7). While most of the police didn’t like McCall straying from the party line, the locals had more mixed feelings (1, 7). Some villagers were arrested for springing the leopard traps or otherwise sabotaging the hunt (7). There were stories of people who died because their leopard forms were killed in the hunt (7). On the other hand, when McCall was eventually sent to another post, nine chiefs and representatives of Ikot Akan, Opobo, sent a letter asking for him to be restored to his post in Opobo (1).

37 leopards were killed over the course of the campaign (7). McCall believed that he succeeded in killing at least a few leopards that had been responsible for the slew of deaths. One of his suspected man-eaters was a large, elderly male that was trapped and killed the night after two of the ‘leopard murders’ (1). The leopard had two broken fangs and a mutilated paw that was missing a pad from a long-ago injury (1). Old age and injury have occasionally caused big cats to switch to human prey because humans are soft to chew and easy to catch. The man-eaters of Tsavo is a famous case of that type.

The killing of 37 leopards is a tragedy, but depending upon who you ask it may have been the right thing to do. Beyond that, McCall also called into question the previous convictions and succeeded in getting the sentences of 16 men commuted from execution to life in prison, at least until their cases could be reexamined (1, 7). Whether those cases were reconsidered or not wasn’t mentioned.

By May, 1948, things had returned almost to normal (7). 77 people and 37 leopards had been executed (1, 7). A variety of other solutions had been thrown at the insane situation as well. Which, if any of them, actually brought about a resolution? One theory holds that the complexity of the problem was always underestimated. Some of the murders were Ekpe Owo assassinations, some were acts of violence between citizens disguised as leopard or Ekpe Owo killings, and some were leopard depredation (7). Maybe isn’t that complicated, and only one or two groups were at play but the volatile human environment preventing the mystery being solved. Unfortunately, we won’t solve it now, but that doesn’t mean we should stop thinking about it. There’s probably a lot to be learned from the leopard murders.

The Man Who Stole a Leopard by Duran Duran ~ TW: domestic abuse, self-harm, suicide

Works Cited

  1. Bellers, V. (n.d.). The leopard murders of Opobo. In What Mr. Sanders really did, or A speck in the ocean of time (chapter nineteen). Retrieved from https://www.britishempire.co.uk/article/sanders/sanderschapter19.htm
  2. Curran, B. and Daniels, I. (2009). Werewolves: A field guide to shapeshifters, lycanthropes, and man-beasts. Franklin Lakes, NJ: The Career Press.
  3. Douglas, M. (2013). Witcraft confessions and accusations. Abingdon, OX: Taylor & Francis.
  4. Hubbard, J.W. (1931). The Isoko country, southern Nigeria. The Geographical Journal, 77(2), 110-120. https://doi.org/10.2307/1784387
  5. Hutton, J.H. (1920). Leopard-men in the Naga Hills. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 50, 41-51. https://doi.org/10.2307/2843373
  6. Knappert, J. (Ed). (1977). Bantu myths and other tales. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
  7. Nwaka, G.I. (1986). The ‘leopard’ killings of southern Annang, Nigeria, 1943-48. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 56(4), 417-440. https://doi.org/10.2307/1159998
  8. Swancer, B. (2016, November 24). Beyond werewolves: Strange were-beasts of the world. Mysterious Universe. https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/11/beyond-werewolves-strange-were-beasts-of-the-world/
  9. Talbot, P.A. (1923). Life in southern Nigeria: The magic, beliefs, and customs of the Ibibio tribe. London: Macmillan and Company, Ltd.
  10. Werner, A. (1929). Review, untitled [Review of the book An English-Tswa Dictionary]. Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 5(2), 436-438. https://www.jstor.org/stable/607728
  11. Werner, A. (1933). The Amazimu. In Myths and legends of the Bantu (chapter seven). Abingdon, OX: Taylor and Francis. Retrieved from https://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/mlb/mlb14.htm

Published January 31th, 2021

Updated June 12th, 2023

Culture

Werecats, Part II: The Regal Werelion

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Meredith Hemphill

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Encyclopaedia Felidae now has a Patreon! Go to www.patreon.com/EncyclopaediaFelidae if you want to help support this content!

Werelion statue
5000-year-old lion-woman statue – Image by Welcome to all and thank you for your visit ! ツ from Pixabay

This week we resume our tour of werecats by traveling to Africa, home of the werelion. There, in the cradle of humanity, cats big and small are exquisite predators. Sometimes the big cats take human prey, and this must only have been more so the case in the early days of human history. Is it any wonder, then, that some African folktales have fused two of the most fearsome beasts they knew: humans and lions?

On the one hand, the folklore of Bantu African cultures explains that sovereigns are transformed into lions after death [1, 2]. This suggests a kinship with lions. However Knappert points out that is also tells us lions commanded the respect and fear of those that lived alongside them, just like kings do of their subjects [1]. A lion that used to be a king in a former life is a sort of spiritual werelion, but there are stories of werelions with real transformative powers, and they tend to have less ambiguous personalities.

To this werelion, I do thee wed…

Sometimes, the belief is that humans use magic to take the form of a lion for various nefarious purposes [2, 3]. However, it can be the other way around [3]. In one story, a lion took the shape of a man, moved into a village, and married a human woman [3]. After a while they had a child [3]. So far, so good, if a little strange. Then the werelion suggested the family go visit his parents [3]. Yikes! None the wiser, his wife agreed, and the little family set off, accompanied by the wife’s brother [3].

As the sun began to set, they made camp, and the werelion built a protective shelter, or kraal, of thorn bushes before announcing his intention to fish and leaving. The brother was not impressed with his brother-in-law’s kraal and strengthened it himself. As you will surely be shocked to learn, the werelion brought his family to attack that night, but the lions couldn’t breach the kraal. The werelion’s family shamed him for his failure, and they left. [3]

Image by Andrea Bohl from Pixabay

The werelion came back in the morning with fish and plenty of excuses, but the brother was becoming suspicious. When the werelion left to fish again, the brother went on a walk to think. He found a gnome (akachekulu) who confirmed his suspicions and, in return for some housecleaning, taught the brother how to make a magic drum that would enable him to fly when he played it. The brother hid his sister and the baby inside the drum and began to play. It worked, but the noise attracted the werelion. Fortunately, it also compelled the werelion to dance, and the brother was able to fly everyone home to the village, where the werelion dared not try to hurt them. [3]

Werelion defeated by smart kid with feathers

Humans are human everywhere, so many elements of folklore are cross-cultural. The phenomenon of were-beasts is one example, but this story has lots: the rule of three (twice), rags to riches, advice from magical objects. It also reminds me a little of the German fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, but this time the mother is not the one who breaks the pact.

The story begins during a severe famine, with a pregnant woman searching for something to eat in the wilderness. She finds a lion that has just killed an antelope and offers to trade her child for its kill. The lion agrees. [1] Perhaps it’s a gap in my understanding as a cultural outsider, but it seems as though it is never clear why, exactly, the lion would want the woman’s unborn child. If he wants to eat it, why not just keep the antelope, or kill the woman and have all of the above? To me, not knowing what he has in mind is actually more disturbing.

But perhaps the lion’s intentions are irrelevant. Cases of parents bartering their children for food were not unheard of [1]. I have no doubt that such a thing is not isolated in space or time, either. Starvation is a horrible thing that can make people do horrible things just to survive. The werelion may simply be a convenient stand-in for the sort of person who would be happy to buy a child.

35,000 – 40,000-year-old lion man sculpture from German cave – Wikimedia Commons

Well, the woman gave birth to a son and named him Mutipi. Mutipi grew two feathers on top of his head, but he was the only one that could see them. Eventually, the lion decided the time had come, so he changed into a man and came to the house to collect Mutipi. But Mutipi took out his feathers and asked them what to do. They told him that this was Mr. Lion come to take him away, and that he must change himself into a mouse so that when his mother called him in for dinner, he would not be recognized. And it worked. [1]

The werelion tried twice more, but each time Mutipi’s feathers told him how to escape capture using tricks or magic. Finally, the werelion took Mutipi’s mother instead, and Mutipi fled to another country. There, he became a favored messenger for the king. The courtiers grew envious and tried thrice to kill Mutipi, but again, his feathers told him how to avoid assassination. [1]

When drought and famine killed everyone in the country but Mutipi, for only he had magic, all-knowing feathers, the feathers told him to make a whip of lion-skin that would bring whoever he whips with it back to life. He chose not to resurrect his murderous enemies. He did resurrect the princess, married her, and became king himself. I am unclear on what happened to the last king. He just isn’t mentioned in the closing action of the story. Make of that what you will. [1]

Werelions, where are they now?

If you read the magnum opus that was my article on weretigers, you might be either disappointed or relieved that this installment in the series is so much shorter. Personally, I’m a little bit of both. I struggled to find reliable resources on this topic. Most sources just seemed to be repeating each other, and I wanted to provide better information than that. The result is a higher-quality but rather short article. If you do want to get more werelions in your life, here are some examples of werelions in modern media. We see werewolves quite frequently, especially in paranormal content in the United States, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen or read anything with a werelion. Let’s see what’s out there, why don’t we?

Books

  • Beast by Krishna Udayasankar – a werelion is wreaking havoc in Mumbai, and an unsuspecting cop is on its trail
  • Daughter of Lions by Catherine Banks – daughter of the leader of a werelion pride experiences teen angst
  • Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews – magic is dying and Atlanta is overrun with monsters, plus shapeshifters
  • And a truly shocking number of erotic novels…

Games

  • Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn feature a people called the Laguz, one tribe of which can transform into big wildcats, including lions.
  • Dungeons and Dragons has an official race of lion-like people called Leonin.
  • World of Warcraft druids can take lion or panther forms.

Works Cited

  1. Knappert, J. (1977). Mutipi and the werelion (Ronga). In Bantu Myths and Other Tales (pp. 54- 58). E.J. Brill.
  2. Gouldsbury, C. and Sheane, H. (1911). The great plateau of northern Rhodesia: Being some impressions of the Tanganyika plateau (pp. 200). Edward Arnold. PDF
  3. Werner, A. (1933). Chapter XIII: Of werewolves, halfmen, gnomes, goblins, and other monsters. In Myths and legends of the Bantu. George G. Harrap and Co., Ltd. Accessed at https://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/mlb/mlb15.htm

Published November 22, 2020

Breed Profiles

Abyssinian: Pharaoh’s Treasure

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Meredith Hemphill

mehshadoweye

Encyclopaedia Felidae now has a Patreon! Go to www.patreon.com/EncyclopaediaFelidae if you want to help support this content!

Two brown Abyssinian cats on kitchen chair
Royalty in the kitchen – Image by Dmitry Tsapenko from Pixabay

Ancient Egyptian art is full of regal cats with lithe, muscular bodies, arched necks, large, wildcat ears, and almond-shaped eyes. It is no surprise that the Abyssinian breed is widely believed to be the descendants of the cats of the ancient Egyptians, held in such high regard thousands of years ago. The resemblance is uncanny. Although it is a myth that Abyssinians are the cats of the Pharaohs, this breed has no problem commanding your attention in its own right.

Abyssinian Imports

The first record of an Abyssinian cat comes from the January 27th, 1872 issue of Harper’s Weekly in a report on the 1871 Crystal Palace Cat Show [1]. A she-cat named either Zulu or Zula took third place. She was described as an Abyssinian, “captured in the late Abyssinian war” [1]. An illustration is provided, which shows a cat with tabby facial markings but the ticked coat typical of Abyssinians [1]. Otherwise, however, Zulu does not look like the Abyssinian as we know it today, having rather small ears and a rounder face [1, 2].

Abyssinia is an old name for Ethiopia. The story goes that a British Captain brought Zulu home from Abyssinia in the 1860s and began to breed her when her unusual ticked coat was so well-received in Britain. Because of her cat show win, we know that Zulu existed, but whether she is the mother of the breed is contested. She may have been to begin with. There is a theory that Zulu was used to begin the breed, but her line died out, and other cats with ticked coats, perhaps the British “Bunny cats” with similar markings, were bred to re-establish the breed [2]. Genetic evidence links Abyssinians to Southeast Asian and Western European cat populations [3]. This had led to the idea that British and Dutch traders may have brought the breed’s progenitors from Indian or Indonesian ports [4].

Breed Characteristics

Appearance

Mother Abyssinian cat with kitten on sofa
Image by Dmitry Tsapenko from Pixabay

The Abyssinian today is notable for the ticked coat that has distinguished it all along. Ticked or agouti fur is related to the tabby pattern (see my article on coat pattern genetics). There are no tabby stripes, only the tabby M on the forehead, but each individual hair is striped with alternating bands of color. Abyssinians have a darker band of fur along their spine and a lighter underside. They are best known in their ruddy (reddish-brown) coloration, but can also be red, blue, or fawn. Their fur is short, dense, and silky. Long-haired Abyssinians do crop up, but they are considered a separate breed, the Somali.

Their patterning reminds some people of a wildcat, an idea reinforced by the Abyssinian’s shape. The breed looks a lot like the ancestor of domestic cats, Felis lybica. They have a muscular body, wedge-shaped head, and large, alert ears that give them a very attentive appearance. The legs are slim and the tail long and tapering. Their almond-shaped eyes are often surrounded by dark lines and may be green or gold. Despite an aspect of wildness, Abyssinian cats are 100% domestic cat. They are not, however, likely to be a lap cat.

Personality

Abyssinians are playful, social, and very athletic. They are known for a love of climbing and a high degree of intelligence that can get them into mischief if they’re bored. They are very loyal to their people and perform all sorts of antics to get their attention. Because they are so energetic, they don’t usually like to be cuddly, but they do like to be around and involved in whatever is going on. They are usually good with other pets and with children. They can get bored and distressed if left alone for long periods of time, so in a house where everyone needs to leave for work and school they will probably need an animal companion and plenty of toys to keep them busy. Puzzle toys are fantastic for challenging their active brains as well as their active bodies.

These cats are fast learners. This makes them great at learning tricks, but it also makes them good at learning how to get into trouble. And they have a knack for training their people to do what they want. Abyssinians are delightful companions, but they do need lots of stimulation and a watchful eye to keep them out of mischief!

Abyssinian antics

Health

As with any breed, there are some health concerns with Abyssinians. Their athletic nature typically fends off obesity and keeps them fit, but there are some inherited disorders in the breed that even their great athleticism cannot counter. Progressive retinal atrophy, an eye disease which causes blindness, is associated with the breed [5]. Abyssinian cats have known risks of developing early periodontal disease; hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; patellar luxation, a hereditary dislocation of the kneecap, which may be surgically corrected; renal amyloidosis, a hereditary disease that leads to kidney failure; and hyperesthesia syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes excessive grooming [4, 6].

Abyssinians are particularly known for having the mutation for pyruvate kinase deficiency in their gene pool. Pyruvate kinase is an enzyme required for the normal functioning of red blood cells [7]. Cats with the deficiency develop intermittent anemia, which may begin anywhere from the age of six months to twelve years [7]. Fortunately, a test is available for the mutation that causes pyruvate kinase deficiency, so the disease can be removed from gene pools [7]. However, there is no definitive treatment for the disease, so even if the breeder says that their bloodline is free of the disorder, it is safest to have your cat tested [7].

Abyssinian cats may not have sunned themselves beside the Nile thousands of years ago, but they are no less regal for having more recent and probably rather mundane origins. As the Egyptians well understood, there is nothing prosaic about a cat. Should you choose to bring an Abyssinian into your family, they will be sure to teach you that themself.

Fun Facts

  • The first cat genome to be sequenced came from an Abyssinian named Cinnamon [6, 8].
  • Two Abyssinians named Amber and Rumpler co-starred as Jake, the alien cat in the 1978 film The Cat from Outer Space [9].
  • In 2019, the Cat Fanciers’ Association ranked Abyssinians their #8 most popular cat. The breed was one of their six founders in 1906 [10].

Works Cited

  1. Macquoid, P. (1872, January 27). An afternoon with the cats. Harper’s Weekly, 89-90.
  2. Abyssinian. (n.d.). Petfinder. https://www.petfinder.com/cat-breeds/abyssinian/
  3. Lipinski, M.J., Froenicke, L., Baysac, K.C., et al. (2008). The ascent of cat breeds: Genetic evaluations of breeds and worldwide random-bred populations. Genomics, 91(1), 12-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygeno.2007.10.009
  4. Cat Time. (n.d.). Abyssinian. https://cattime.com/cat-breeds/abyssinian-cats
  5. Narfstrōm, K. (1983). Hereditary progressive retinal atrophy in the Abyssinian cat. Journal of Heredity, 74(4), 273-276. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a109782
  6. Basepaws. (2019, March 5). Abyssinian – Meet the miniature cougar. https://www.basepaws.com/blog/abyssinian-cat-breed/
  7. Vetstreet. (n.d.). Abyssinian. http://www.vetstreet.com/cats/abyssinian#health
  8. Pontius, J.U., Mullikin, J.C., Smith, D.R., et al. (2007). Initial sequence and comparative analysis of the cat genome. Genome Research, 17, 1675-1689. https://genome.cshlp.org/content/17/11/1675.short
  9. VCA Hospitals (n.d.). Abyssinian. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/cat-breeds/abyssinian
  10. Cat Fanciers’ Association. (2020, February 9) The Cat Fanciers’ Association announces most popular breeds for 2019. https://cfa.org/cfa-news-releases/top-breeds-2019/

Published June 28th, 2020

Updated July 20, 2022