The Persian (Persian: گربه ایران) is a breed of longhaired cat. One of the oldest and most popular cat breed, it takes its name from its place of origin, Persia (Iran). In Britain, it is called the Longhair or Persian Longhair. In the cat fancy a Persian without an established and registered pedigree is classed as a domestic longhair cat.
In general, it's not clear when longhaired cats first appeared, as there are no African Wildcats, who are bel...
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The Persian (Persian: گربه ایران) is a breed of longhaired cat. One of the oldest and most popular cat breed, it takes its name from its place of origin, Persia (Iran). In Britain, it is called the Longhair or Persian Longhair. In the cat fancy a Persian without an established and registered pedigree is classed as a domestic longhair cat.
In general, it's not clear when longhaired cats first appeared, as there are no African Wildcats, who are believed to be ancestors of domesticated cats, with long fur. There were claims in the 1800s that the gene responsible for long hair was introduced through hybridization with the Pallas cat, however, research in the early 1900s refutes this theory.
The first documented ancestors of the Persian were imported from Khorasan, Persia into Italy in 1620 by Pietro della Valle, and from Angora, Turkey into France by Nicholas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc at around the same time. From France, they soon reached Britain. The Persian was originally a gray cat and...
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