Spread through the southern Africa there is a large rare feline that is a great example that not everything it seems is: the cheetah.
According to, instead of the classic rounded black spots typical of a cheetahcinonyx jubatus), these felines of real name have a stained coat standardwith stretched and cast spots and thick stripes along its pimples.
So unusual was this pattern that the inhabitants of Manicaland, in Zimbabué – one of the only three places where the cheetah He was sighted in the wild – believed it was a cross between a leopard and a hyena.
When it caught the attention of the Westerners for the first time, in the early twentieth centurysome proposed that the cheetah was a hybrid leopard and cheetah.
Others rejected the hybrid theory, suggesting that the cheetah deals was, in fact, A totally different species of cheetahdesignated Acinonyx rex. This proposal was mainly based on the fact that the chita-king’s paws were structurally equal to those of the existing chita, not those of a leopard, being the pattern of coat the distinctive factor between the two chita species.
However, for Reginald Pocockzoologist and main defender of this theory, there was not enough evidence to support it and, in 1939, withdrew its classification of the new species.
Then, in 2012, the truth behind the coat standard was finally revealed, although this revelation has not begun with the chita-king itself, but with its smaller and domesticated relatives.
Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of Standford University, National Institute of Cancer and the HudsononalPha Institute of Biotechnology were curious to know why some knitted cats have a “stained” coat pattern instead of striped.
Comparing the DNA of wild domestic cats with different coat patterns, they discovered mutations in a single gene, known as Stumpwhich seem to be responsible. These mutations were recessivewhich means that, for a spotted cat to have a stained pattern, it must have to have Two copies of mutated gene – one of each parent.
This led the research team to think that the mutation in Taqpep could also explain the chita-king standard. Started by examining the DNA of a captive cheetah in a US conservation program-and She had the mutation.
Only one case is far from being a conclusive proof. Therefore, the investigators came into contact with the conservationist Ann van Dykwhich drove the South African Conservation Center from which all the Cativairo king came-in other words, a large set of Chitas for DNA analysis.
Van Dyk has passed away since this investigation was carried out, after dedicating his life to the conservation of the Chitas, but left a legacy in more than one meaning. After it was the first to know that the chita-king standard was probably caused by a recessive genetic mutationbased on the detailed reproduction records it kept, the DNA samples collected from the chitas that were at their care proved that it was right.
As Rei chitas can be relatively rareIt is thought that only about 10 live in a wild-but now it is possible to understand their appearance and, thanks to captive playback programs like those in South Africa, it is possible that there are even more of these unusual-looking cats.
Teresa Oliveira Campos, Zap //
