the intriguing “cat-fox” is indeed a feline specific to Corsica

It has puzzled scientists for years. The “cat-fox”, known for a long time to Corsican shepherds, is indeed an animal specific to the Mediterranean island, the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) announced on Thursday March 16. The latest genetic analyzes have made the “demonstration of a specific genetic line of wild cat in Corsica”.

The feline, known locally by the Corsican name of “ghjattu volpe” (cat-fox) because of the length of its body and its tail, has long been part of the mythology of local shepherds. “They said that these forest cats attacked the udders of their sheep and goats. It is from these stories, transmitted from generation to generation, that we began our research”explained in 2019 Carlu-Antone Cecchini, forest cat project manager at the National Office for Hunting and Wildlife (ONCFS), now integrated into the OFB.

For scientists, the story began more recently, after the accidental capture of a wild-type cat from a chicken coop in Olcani, Cap Corse, in 2008. Now, “the identification of a specific genetic entity” among the felids – which are threatened – “is remarkable and essential to the implementation of appropriate conservation measures”concludes the OFB.