Maine Coon
Country / place of origin: United States
History: The Maine Coon is one of the oldest cat breeds in North America and is also one of the largest breeds of domestic cat. The Maine Coon has also been known as the American Longhair, American Shag and American Forest Cat.The Maine Coon is known for its large size, easygoing temperament, rugged appearance, and mousing ability. There are many myths and stories surrounding Maine Coon. A popular belief is that it originated from the mating between semi-wild, domestic cats and raccoons. Despite its name, the Maine Coon cat is not a relative of
the raccoon. The name reflects the resemblance of a tabby Maine Coon's tail to that of a raccoon. (Cross-mating between raccoons and cats is genetically impossible.)Another story is that the cat was named after a ship's captain named Coon who was responsible for the cat reaching Maine shores. Another interesting myth is that the breed sprang from the six pet cats (Angora cats) that Marie Antoinette sent to Wiscasset, Maine when she was planning to escape from France during the French Revolution. These pets were said to have interbred with the Shorthaired Domestics to result in the Maine Coon.
Due to its tufted ears and large size, others believe that the cats descend from North American bobcats or bobcat/domestic cat hybrids or, even more implausibly, as a hybrid between domestic cats and lynx. The misconception that it is a lynx hybrid is unfortunately still perpetuated by some credulous cryptozoologists.
In the late 18th century, Maine was a major ship-building, sailing, and trading state. The Maine Coon is most likely derived from a mix of longhaired and shorthaired cats taken to New England by colonists as pets, and by trading ships that would have carried European cats as ships’ mousers. The rugged longhaired cats of Scotland, Norway, and Russia are good candidates for some of its ancestors, as are Persians and Angoras. These would have interbred with the various other cats brought to the U.S. over many generations. Through natural selection, the Maine Coon must have evolved into the familiar large, rugged cat with a water-resistant, thick coat and a hardy constitution to face the severe winters of New England.
By 1980 the Maine Coon was recognized by all the registries. Today the Maine is one of the world's most popular cat breeds, second only to the Persian.
Appearance
Details: Maine Coons can grow to be quite large; it is not unusual to find males who weigh over twenty pounds. Females are generally somewhat smaller than males, though still considerably larger than the average housecat. Maine Coons have a long, rectangular body, large bones, high cheekbones, large oval eyes, tufted ears, and toes, with an extra-long flowing tail. One of the distinctive features of Maine Coon is a long, smooth, silky, and shaggy coat that is shorter on the shoulders and longer on the belly and tail. The overall look is of a sturdy cat who is a great hunter and hard worker.
Color / coat: Though the brown tabby pattern is perhaps the best known, Maine Coons come in a wide variety of color combinations. They come in colors and patterns like solids, tabbies, bicolors, tortoiseshells, tabby-torties, smokes and shaded colors. Maine Coons come in all colors except for chocolate, lavender, ticked tabby, and the point-restricted "Siamese" pattern.
Behavioral aspects: The Maine Coon is well known for its loving nature, kindly disposition, and great intelligence. They are very loyal and enjoy the company of both humans and other pets. Maine Coons are especially good with children and dogs.They are very easy to train and adapt easily to new environments.
Maine Coons have great dexterity and are very playful. They have a tendency to use their front paws extensively (often curling the paw around to pick up objects) and as a consequence will easily learn to open cabinet doors, turn on water faucets, or pick up small objects. Some Maine Coons will eat from their paws, rather than eating from the bowl itself.Some Maine Coons enjoy playing with, but not usually in, water. They may dip toys in their water bowls before playing with them, just tip the water bowl over, or just skim their paws across the surface of their water bowl. Maine Coons occasionally engage in mischievous behavior when bored, such as deliberately pushing things off tables and the tops of refrigerators with their paws and large bodies. Maine Coons are noted for their ability to trill their meows, which sounds like a combination of a purr and a meow, and they tend to make this sound when happy or startled. They are noted for rarely eating alone, preferring to eat in the company of other cats or humans. Maine Coons are usually not "lap" cats (possibly because of their large size), and thus are generally not comfortable sitting on a person's lap or chest, though this may depend on the personality of the individual cat.
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