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Many of the cats at the
Sanctuary are Manx Rumpies (completely
tailless), Stumpies (the mere hint of a
stump), or Rumpy Risers (having a small
piece of bone or cartilage at the end of the
spine). Manx cats probably originated from a
mutation which occurred hundreds of years
ago and the gene did not die out as the
Island is geographically protected.
There are many folk tales and myths as to
why Manx cats have no tail, here is one
taken from' Manx Fairy Tales' by Sophia
Morrison published in 1926.Noah was calling
the animals into the Ark, there was one cat
who was out mousing and took no notice when
he was calling to her. |
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She was
a good mouser, but this time she had trouble
finding a mouse and she took a notion that
she wouldn't go into the Ark without one.
So at last, when Noah
had all the animals safe inside, and he saw
the rain beginning to fall, and no sign of
her coming in, he said: And with that he was
just closing the door when the cat came
running up, half-drowned - that's why cats
hate the water - and just squeezed in in
time.
But Noah had slammed the door as she ran in
and it cut off her tail, so she got in
without it and that is why Manx cats have no
tail to this day. The cat said:
Be bo bend it,
My tail's ended
And I'll go to Mann
And get copper nails,
And mend it.
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There are
many myths about how the Manx Cat lost her
tail. Here are a few :
When the Scandinavians invaded Man in the
early 9th century, the warriors wanted to
decorate their helmets with furry tails, so
the mother cats bit off their kittens' tails
to prevent this happening. In 1588 a ship
from the Spanish Armada foundered on rocks
off the coast of the Island, and tailless
cats swam ashore. However, there are no
records of this event or cats without tails
in Spain.
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