There are certainly differences evident just between what can be seen in the photos.. The overall background colour of this cat is tawny brown, the Twycross ones look greyish. This cat has no white on the face, the Twycross ones have 'pale faces.' The stripes on the head between the ears are bolder on this one.
I expect there are a number of other differences present in the animals too. For a start I know the Twycross ones have pointed tails.
For comparison, here is my photo of one of the recent kittens at Highland Wildlife Park - the wildcats there have all tested as pure, so it provides a useful morphological baseline.
For comparison, here is my photo of one of the recent kittens at Highland Wildlife Park - the wildcats there have all tested as pure, so it provides a useful morphological baseline.
The purity test developed by RZSS is apparently questionable- the 'rival' Wildcat association maintain that none of the captive cats anywhere are proven to be pure.
The purity test developed by RZSS is apparently questionable- the 'rival' Wildcat association maintain that none of the captive cats anywhere are proven to be pure.
The Scottish Wildcat Association has now morphed into the Wildcat Haven project and disagrees with the conservation strategy adopted by the RZSS, Scottish Natural Heritage, WildCRU, and just about everyone else involved in wildcat protection. As a result, they are perhaps not entirely up-to-date with what’s going on in the captive population.
HWP’s animals were identified as pure based on pelage scores (as you’ve been discussing) and preliminary genetic tests, in work that led to the paper published by Driscoll et al. (2011). Since then, RZSS have taken over the studbook, genetic tests have improved, and other captive purebred wildcats have been identified. Small population size and inbreeding remain a major obstacle, however; hence the plan to remove a small number of individuals from the wild.
