Manx cat - WikiHQ

The Manx cat (, in earlier times often spelled Manks) is a breed of domestic cat (Felis catus) originating on the Isle of Man, with a mutation that shortens the tail. Many Manx have a small stub of a tail, but Manx cats are best known as being entirely tailless; this is the most distinguishing characteristic of the breed, along with elongated hind legs and a rounded head. Manx cats come in all coat colours and patterns, though all-white specimens are rare, and the coat range of the original stock was more limited. Long-haired variants are sometimes considered a separate breed, the Cymric cat.

Manx are prized as skilled hunters, and thus have often been sought by farmers with rodent problems, and been a preferred ship's cat breed. They are said to be social, tame and active. Two local terms for the cats on their home island are stubbin (those with a short tail) and rumpy (those with no tail). Manx have been exhibited in cat shows since the 1800s, with the first known breed standard published in 1903.

History

Origin and folklore

thumb|left|Silverwing, a tabby, rumpy Manx male champion show cat (UK, 1902)

Tailless cats, then called ' (apparently both singular and plural) in colloquial Manx language, hence the name, where they remain a substantial but declining percentage of the local cat population. Some folklore stories claim that tailless domestic cats were brought there by sea. of which the island has long been devoid. or ' lit. 'bob-tailed cat'. ', used as both a masculine and feminine noun, is also encountered as ', and depending on the exact construction, it may be lenited as ' or '. The diminutive word is ' or ', 'kitten' (with various plurals). Folklore has further claimed that a tailless cat swam ashore from said shipwreck, and thus brought the trait to the island. Similar cats are also found in Crimea, Possible relation to the Pixie-bob breed, which also ranges from rumpy to fully tailed, is unknown.

Breed recognition

Manx cats have been exhibited in cat shows, as a named, distinct breed (and with the modern spelling "Manx"), since the late 1800s. In that era, few shows provided a Manx division, and exhibited specimens were usually entered under the "Any Other Variety" class, where they often could not compete well unless "exceptionally good in size and markings". This is a cat body-type mutation of the spine, caused by a dominant gene. As with the sometimes-tail-suppressed Schipperke dog and Old English Sheepdog, tail suppression does not "breed true" in Manx cats. Attempting to force the tailless trait to breed true by continually breeding tailless Manx cats to tailless Manx cats has led to increased negative, even fatal genetic disorders (see below). Tail length is random throughout a litter of kittens. Manx to non-Manx breeding will usually produce some Manx-type tail varieties in kittens. or dimple rumpy – having no tail at all, though often a small tuft of hair where the tail would have grown from the rump – having a bump of cartilage or taily (tailie) balance is controlled primarily by the inner ear. In cats, dogs and other large-bodied mammals, balance involves but is not dependent upon the tail (contrast with rats, for whom the tail is a quite significant portion of their body mass).

Since Manx kittens are naturally born with any tail length, from none to long, it was formerly common to surgically dock the longer tails a few days after birth. Although illegal in many jurisdictions (including much of Europe), the practice was formerly recommended, although with the caveat that the commonness of the practice meant that many spurious Manx cats – i.e., random British cats – were altered to resemble the Manx, to defraud unwary buyers. ) belly ruff and neck ruff, tufts of fur between the toes and full "ear furnishings" (hairs in ears). The long-haired variety is of comparatively recent development. Lane wrote in 1903 that the Manx "to the best of my knowledge, information and belief, does not include any long-haired specimens", in his detailed chapter on the breed. and thus requires that Manx cats to have one of the coat patterns that would be permissible in the BSH rather than any that is exclusive to a "foreign" type (e.g. point colouration). New Zealand Cat Fancy (NZCF) does likewise for colour and markings, but requires a double-coat and other Manx-specific features that GCCF does not. Some other registries are even more restrictive, while others are more liberal.

Behaviour

Fanciers often describe the Manx as being doglike in behaviour.

These beliefs about the Manx's behaviour were not described in the past.

Lane's early and experienced account of the temperament of this "variety, which is quaint and interesting" is simply that they were "docile, good-tempered and sociable", and that a prize specimen should be "an alert, active animal of much power and energetic character." the Co-ordinating Cat Council of Australia (CCCA), and the UK's Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) recognise the variety as a longer-haired Manx rather than "Cymric" (the CFA In other international registries (e.g. GCCF, who also treat Manx as a British Shorthair variant

Tasman Manx (curly-coated)

Named after Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, the Tasman Manx is a tailless or partially tailed Manx cat with a curly-haired coat not unlike that of a Selkirk Rex, due a recessive mutation which arose in Manx litters in both Australia and New Zealand. , the breed is only recognised by the NZCF and the Catz Inc. registry (also of New Zealand) with breed standards. The coat may be short or semi-long.

The type arose possibly without existing rex mutation bloodlines (and none of the rex breeds are permitted as out-cross partners with Tasman Manx in Catz breeding guidelines). (lacking the Manx face and body shape to qualify), though relation if any to extant Rex mutation breeds is unclear. All of these additional terms beyond "Tasman Manx" appear to be "recognised", even promulgated by NZCF

Some tailless cats such as the Manx cats may develop megacolon, which is a recurring condition causing constipation that can be life-threatening to the cat if not properly monitored. It is a condition in which, due to absence of a tail, the smooth muscle that normally contracts to push stools toward the rectum loses its ability to do so.

Following on updated genetic research, both the Australian Cat Federation and (less stringently) the GCCF impose special breeding restrictions on Manx cats (and derived stock like the Cymric), for animal welfare reasons.

Identification of the Manx Cat tailless gene

In 2013, prior to initiation of the Manx Cat Genome Project (below), genetic mutations in the brachyury gene were shown to be responsible for failure of tail development in the Manx cat, as well as four other tailless breeds of cat. Mutations in orthologs of this gene have been shown to cause tail-loss defects in a number of other species, notably the mouse. Mutations in the human version of the brachyury gene are associated with a range of neural tube defects.

Manx Cat Genome Project

To better understand the genetics of the breed, the Manx Cat Genome Project (MCGP) was launched in August 2015, as a crowdfunded volunteer project by computational biologist Dr. Rachel Glover of Douglas, Isle of Man, to perform the first whole genome sequencing of the Manx cat, uncovering the genetic mutations that make the Manx distinct from other cat populations, and to contribute data to the genome databases at the 99 Lives Cat Genome Sequencing Project by the University of Missouri, and the US National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). It is the Isle of Man's first gene sequencing programme, and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and by 99 Lives, and server resources donated by Isle of Man biomedical information technology company ServiceTech. A minimum of three cats' genes will have to be sequenced to obtain the required genetic data. the first cat sequenced was a purebred Manx calico rumpy named Bonnag, selected because the registry of this dam (breeding female) and her kittens in the British Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) aids controlled study of a specific bloodline. Fundraising for the second genome to be sequenced by the project began September 2016; costs dropped to UK£1,400 per cat in November 2015, and as of April 2016 dropped to about £1,200, using the Illumina HiSeq X Ten sequencer,

In popular culture

Isle of Man national symbol

The Isle of Man uses the Manx cat as one of the symbols of the island nation and its unique culture. On Isle of Man currency, Manx cats are the subject of the reverse of four special commemorative crown coins. The first two, issued in 1970 and 1975, are stand-alone releases in both copper-nickel and silver proofs, while the third, in 1988, inaugurated an ongoing series of annual cat coin issues that have also been produced in gold in various sizes; an almost-hidden Manx cat appears in the background on each of the 1989-onward releases featuring other breeds.

A Manx cat, in stylised Celtic knotwork art, also appears on the island's 1980–83 penny. The breed figures on numerous Isle of Man postage stamps, including a 2011 series of six that reproduce the art from Victorian era Manx cat postcards,

External links

The Manx Breed Council