| Kellas cat | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mountedzoological specimen of a Kellas cat | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Felinae |
| Genus: | Felis |
| Species: | |
TheKellas cat is a large blackcat found inScotland. It is aninterspecific hybrid between theScottish wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris syn.Felis silvestris grampia) and the domesticcat (Felis catus). Once thought to be amythological wild cat, with its few sightings dismissed ashoaxes, a specimen was killed in a snare by agamekeeper in 1984[1][2] and found to be a hybrid between the Scottish wildcat and domestic cat.[3] It is not a formalcat breed, but a population offelid hybrids. It is named after the village ofKellas, Moray, where it was first found.
The "dog-size" animal snared in 1984 was 38 centimetres (15 inches) to shoulder height and measured 110 cm (43 in) from nose to tail.[1][4] When this find was reported, "[f]armers and gamekeepers responded immediately with claims that they had been shooting large black cats onHighland estates for years."[5] Skeptics initially dismissed the animal as "a very largeferal domestic cat".[6]
A researcher at theNational Museum of Scotland, Charles Thomas, examined eight Kellas cat specimens.[7] One carcass was already in the museum's collection; the remaining seven were supplied by Di Francis,[8] who was described by Thomas as a "writer, researcher and practical naturalist".[7] Thomas identified one of the animals as amelanistic wildcat;[7] this juvenile male was the first wildcat ever documented as melanistic in Scotland.[9] Most of the other specimens examined were concluded to be hybrids but more closely aligned to the Scottish wildcat; only one hybrid leaned more towards a domestic cat.[10]
The purported first live Kellas cat, a female, was caught at the Kellas estate by theTomorrow's World team and featured in the 1986 episode "On the Trail of the Big Cat".[11] A second, male, was captured in 1988 inInverness-shire. Both were kept for a time in theHighland Wildlife Park atKincraig, then eventually taken on by Francis; she found them untameable but successfully bred them, producing the first litter of captive-born Kellas kittens.[12]
The Zoology Museum of theUniversity of Aberdeen also holds a mounted specimen that was found during 2002 in theInsch area of Aberdeenshire.[13] Another specimen is kept in a museum inElgin.[14][unreliable source]
In 1988, inDufftown, Moray, another wildcat-sized black animal was trapped and killed, and upon examination has been suggested to be a different species entirely, for having a very different skull structure, which is narrower and elongated, with a notably smallerbrainpan, and unusualdentition.[15]
Media reports about the Kellas cat in the 1980s often confused it, despite it being not much larger than a house cat, withpurported sightings throughout Britain of leopard-sized or larger creatures, sometimes said to be black, tawny, or striped, and blamed for various livestock killings.[16] While a singlepuma, that had escaped or been released from captivity as anexotic pet, was captured humanely in 1980 inCannich, Inverness-shire,[17] the remainder of such alleged great cats in Britain have proved to be elusive and dubiouscryptids, generally regarded asurban legend.
Thefolklore of thecat-sìth ('fairy cat') may have been inspired by the Kellas cat.[18] Thecat-sìth is afairy creature fromCeltic mythology, said to resemble a largeblack cat with a white spot on its chest. Legend has it that theghostly cat haunts theScottish Highlands. The legends surrounding this creature are more common inScottish mythology, but a few occur inIrish mythology.
The historianCharles Thomas speculated that thePictish stone at Golspie may depict a Kellas cat.[19] The Golspie stone, now held at theDunrobin Castle Museum, shows a cat-like creature standing on top of a salmon, which may allude to the characteristics ascribed to a Kellas cat of catching fish while swimming in the river.[7]
