After a recent heat wave in China's Sichuan province, local cats sprouted strange appendages resembling wings, as reported in the Bill Moyer's Journal of England, the Daily Mail. The Daily Mail claims to have spoken with genetic experts (i.e. Nigel in the mail room) who said that these growths come from "poor grooming, a genetic defect or a hereditary skin condition." Note: They also said that though the wings do contain bones, they do not not interfere with quality of the cats' lives.
"Mutated ally cats are where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."
More pics below the fold...
Chinese buffalo wings...very tasty.
Shortly after this photo was taken, this mutant cat was jailed for speaking out against the genocide in Darfur.
We want to thank our full-time, unpaid intern Kevin Z for finding this story; He's on a roll!
Life Science
Comments
i'm going to stop what little gromming i've done in the past in hopes of sprouting bones in a month to join icarus
Posted by: neural | August 28, 2008 1:22 PM
Funny thing about this is I've seen this story posted in several places but each stating it's a different province. There is no mention of this on any of the chinese news sites or message boards that I frequent, and odd news/funny photos are popular topics on some of those boards.
Posted by: Rev Matt | August 28, 2008 2:17 PM
Hello, Photoshop...
Posted by: DthAngel | August 28, 2008 3:17 PM
Yeah - like Rev Matt, I've seen this story before - a whole year ago, when it inspired me to look into the history of the winged cat myth. I went back and dug up my post, and reposted it here.
thanks for the heads-up on this!
Posted by: bioephemera | August 28, 2008 4:43 PM
Yep, those are some mighty impressive mats. I mean, impressive dreadlo-- er, uh, "wings"...
Posted by: dog-geek | August 28, 2008 8:48 PM
Omigod! We have a flying cat gap! We must close this gap! No! More than that we need, our national security demands that we establish flying cat supremacy!
Posted by: tresmal | August 28, 2008 10:35 PM
To my knowledge, they're really just artefacts of bad grooming, correlated with loose skin. Notice how all the cats are long-haired. I was told it looks like they're flapping their wings when they're running. :D
Posted by: raiko | August 29, 2008 3:34 AM
Just wait.
In four years that cat will be on the Chinese Gymnastics team.
Posted by: Jives | August 29, 2008 1:49 PM
I sure thought there'd be something on snopes about this.
Posted by: juliagoolia | August 29, 2008 4:13 PM
Russians should re-joice: These cats could be useful for making "ushanka", the traditional warm furry cap with ear muffs....
Posted by: milkshake | August 29, 2008 7:19 PM
messybeast.com covers 'winged' cats quite thoroughly, including this one. Feline cutaneous asthenia is one possible cause, but most commonly it is plain old fur matts. I care for a semi-feral longhaired kitty who started developing this kind of matting just below the shoulder blades this spring, when he was moulting his winter coat. Keeping him de-matted was a daily task, and the poor creature was covered with bald spots from me snipping out chunks of felted fur.
Posted by: Bee | August 30, 2008 4:17 PM
this cat want to fly and escape from dinner. hahaha
Posted by: ali engin musaoğlu | August 31, 2008 11:03 AM
That makes for a bizarre photo. Cats with wings? not sure what to think.
Posted by: Acai Berry | August 31, 2008 6:27 PM
Think everytime this story comes across they can only think of one provence in China. Sichuan just happen to be in the news quite a bit recently ;-)
Posted by: Randy | September 2, 2008 12:24 AM
Approximately a hundred billion years ago when I was 13 I remember reading something about this phenomena in a children's zoology book. It's usually a clump of matted fur, but sometimes there are these strange fleshy growths with bones inside, too.
I bet if you cross this with a polydactyl cat you get like a thousand extra Pokemon points.
Posted by: Jenbug | September 2, 2008 8:54 PM
Gen modify for fun... scary!
Posted by: pokoje Zakopane | September 5, 2008 3:03 AM
I care for a semi-feral longhaired kitty who started developing this kind of matting just below the shoulder blades this spring, when he was moulting his winter coat.
Posted by: neon | April 29, 2009 6:32 AM
Cats are becoming Griffin type creatures now. Soon, they will be the only mode of transportation.
Posted by: Maps | May 29, 2009 3:55 PM
in a children's zoology book. It's usually a clump of matted fur, but sometimes there are these strange
Posted by: Antalya Evden Eve Nakliyat | June 17, 2009 11:34 AM
Feline Skin Asthenia
Posted by: virtualgirl girl | June 21, 2009 10:21 AM