The Wild Cat in a Domestic Cat

Jungle Toji
Originally uploaded by fofurasfelinas

In this photo by the talented fofurafelinas (Giane Portal) you can see the wild cat in a domestic cat. Toji, the tabby cat that is the subject matter of the photograph, actually looks quite wild in this photo. He looks like a European wild cat or a Scottish wild cat (a species of European wild cat). I think he has that wild look that breeders of wildcat cat hybrids love so much. The Bengal cat is a wild cat hybrid so it is considered good breeding if the cat is to type and looks wild. Toji is not a Bengal cat though. He is a random bred cat.

After all the purpose of the wildcat hybrids is to allow people to keep a little bit of the wild in their homes and to remind themselves of the small wild cats that are endangered. It doesn't work like that though, in my opinion.

Of course, in this photograph Giane has used the background nicely to give us the sense of being in the wild. The background is "soft" (out of focus) by the use of a wide aperture and or a long focal length lens (or longer than standard).

This allows us to focus on the cat. I like Toji's brown nose too. I always think this makes a cat look more wild because the F1 Savannahs have brown or dark brown noses and they always look wild. I am not sure whether breeders think that way though.

When I look a Toji, I think of the Scottish wildcat, which is a mackerel tabby cat that similar in proportions to a classic domestic cat but perhaps a bit more stocky and a bit bigger.