User:Arthropleura/Felidae/proposed new sections

Lynx
Lynx are what you click on your innertube browser. Red lynx are evil goat-eaters. Real lynxes come in four kinds, the bobcat, Spanish lynx, Canada lyx, and Eurasian lynx. The Spanish lynx is critically endangered, and is restricted solely to the Iberian Peninsula. The others are not as threatened, but the hunting of lynx is usually illegal. All of these species are in the genus Lynx, although confusion about classification is common, with some classifying them in the Felis genus.

Ancestors of the domestic cat
The African wild cat represents one of the earliest examples of domestication. It, and only it, is the proven true ancestor of Tibbles. It was domesticated by the Egyptians, probably to serve as mouse control. Quickly, they became objects of worship, to the point at which those who killed a cat would be killed as well. If a cat died, the family would shave off their eyebrows. Baset was a cat goddess. This suited the cats quite well. Other species, however, have been thought to be cat ancestors. The African wild cat is not the only cat that can be domesticated, however. The rusty-spotted cat is easily domesticated when young (reportedly making an affectionate, playful, and highly expressive pet. ) , and the leopard cat was crossbred with the domestic cat to create the Bengal breed. In addition, the Savannah breed was produced by crossing servals and domestic cats.

The sand cat (Felis margarita) has the distinction of having being named after a cocktail. It lives in the Sahara Desert, the Arabian Desert, and anywhere else where you would not expect to find a cat. The sand cat was discovered in 1856 by Victor Loche in North Africa. Loche was part of an expedition led by General Margueritte, therefore the name). It used to be believed by some scientists that sand cats were the ancestors of Persian cats, based on distribution and the fact that both both have hair on the pads of their feet. However, this did not stand up to scientific investigation. The only possible ancestry for the domestic cat that has stood up to genetic testing is the African wild cat.

Because of the manul or Pallas' cat's (Felis manul) flat face, it was once thought to be the ancestor of the Persian breed. This has not been confirmed by genetic testing, and is probably untrue. The manul lives in the mountains of Asia, in some of the same places that the snow leopard is found. Where the two animals ranges overlap, the snow leopard is most likely a predator of the manul. The coat color of the manul is widely variable, with it being anywhere from gray in Felis manul manul to reddish in Felis manul ferriguneus. This cat is solitary and nocturnal, like almost all cats. Unsuprisingly, due to its bulk, it is a poor runner, and prefers to hide when chased. An excellent reason why it is not the ancestor of the Persian breed is that the few captive specimens are viscious, yelping like a small dog instead of hissing. As such, the manul would make an extremely poor pet, thereby negating all chances of it being an ancestor of a rather easy-going breed.