Сококе мысығы: Кенияның табиғи тұқымының тарихы мен генетикасы

The Sokoke (or Sokoke Forest Cat in long form, and formerly the African Shorthair) is natural breed of domestic cat, developed and standardised, beginning in the late 1970s, from the feral khadzonzo landrace of eastern, coastal Kenya. The Sokoke is recognized by four major cat pedigree registry organizations as a standardised cat breed. It is named after the Arabuko Sokoke National Forest, the environment from which the foundation stock was obtained, for breed development primarily in Denmark and the United States. The cat is long legged, with short, coarse hair, and typically a tabby coat, though specific lineages have produced different appearances. Although once rumored to be a domestic × wildcat hybrid, genetic study has not borne out this belief. Another idea, that the variety is unusually ancient, remains unproven either way. The native population is closely related to an island dwelling group, the Lamu cat, further north.

Coastal Kenya's distinctive, free roaming, feral cats – known as khadzonzo or kadzonzo, and found from city streets to the Arabuko Sokoke national forest – were "discovered", in the Western cat fancy sense, by horse breeder and wildlife artist Jeni Slater in 1978 near Watamu coconut plantation, Although there were ideas that it might be a new subspecies of wildcat, the tameness of the kittens Slater reared suggested that theoretical hybridisation with wildcats was unlikely, as did features like the long, tapered tail (not characteristic of any wild African species), a general form consistent with Asian domestic cat breeds (very unlike the cobby figure of wildcats), and the mottled, blotched coat pattern (a characteristic of urban cat populations). While modern genetic work has yet to prove or disprove Couffer's idea, a DNA study by the Cat Genome Project (CGP) at the US National Cancer Institute has determined that the spotted khadzonzo street cats of eastern Kenya, the cats of the Lamu Archipelago off the Kenyan coast, and the standardized Sokoke are all closely related. CGP categorised them in its "Arabian Sea Racial Group" (among a total of 12 feline "race" groupings). The group's shared DNA is derived primarily from Asian domestic cats, with ancient Arabian wildcat progenitors. This dispels the suspicion of some breeders

Gloria Moeldrop, a friend of Slater's, brought a pair of Slater's cats home with her to Denmark to breed in 1983, The cats were first shown in Copenhagen in 1984, then in Odense. Slater introduced a darker Watamu street cat specimen into the breeding programme, in 1987, for genetic diversity. registered to establish future pedigrees, and bred; these became known as the "new line" Sokoke cats, with distinctive features from those of the Slater developed "old line". The cats caught in the forest from 2001 onward have been added to this breeding programme, as have some more recent specimens. which also produces a "ticked" or "salt and pepper" look to the coat, overall. This combination has been called "African tabby"
Breeders expect one to two litters per year, per breeding pair. Sometimes two litters may come closely in a row, with a longer period of time before further reproduction. Sexual maturity is usually reached at around eight to ten months of age.