Cross Breeds

where do Maine Coon cats come from?

Public Comments

1. The Maine Coon is one of the largest breeds of domestic cat, known for its high intelligence and playfulness as well as its distinctive physical appearance. The breed is one of the oldest natural breeds in North America and originated from New England, specifically native to the state of Maine, (in fact, the Maine Coon is the official Maine State Cat),[1] making it America's first indigenous show cat. The Maine Coon cat is known as "the gentle giant."[2] Most breeders today believe that the breed originated in matings between pre-existing shorthaired domestic cats and overseas longhairs, perhaps Angora types introduced by New England seamen, or longhairs brought to America by the Vikings.[3] Maine Coons are similar in appearance to both the Norwegian Forest Cat and to the Siberian, however this may be attributed to convergent evolution — the shaping of unrelated species by similar environments, selecting for similar characteristics, resulting in similar animals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cat-MaineCoon-Lara1.png