Maned semi-hairless cat

[Tatiana]

Hi all First time posting here! I signed up because I found a strange video about an "ugly" cat which made me wonder about something.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/also_in_the_news/7919495.stm

 

I was struck by the resemblence between the pattern of fur growth on that cat, and the traditional mane of a wild male lion, I've included a good sketch of the varieties of shapes and colours for comparison, though he seems to have less over the top of his head and shoulders than the traditional mane, it's still very very similar.

 

 

Could it be that the genes for mane growth in terms of location (like beard growth for men) are hidden somewhere in the domestic cat genome, and they've cropped up here, noticably because the rest of the skin has failed to grow any fur?