You might have seen something—or someone?!—like the guy above prowling in the moonlight, but I’m afraid he’s not proof of the supernatural, he’s just a new breed of cat called a Lykoi, or “wolf” in Greek. Of course, most people are just calling the breed what it looks like: a werewolf cat!

The breed is distinguished by a lack of hair around the mouth, eyes and nose, with patchy fur on the rest of the body. Although it might look like a hairless Sphinx with some regressive fur or a curly haired Devon Rex with some kind of skin ailment, the breed is actually the result of a natural mutation from domestic shorthairs.

The Gobble family, the breeders who successfully petitioned to have to breed recognized by the International Cat Association in 2012, say the cats have had extensive health and DNA testing to make sure the patchy coat is not the result of or associated with any illnesses. They discovered that some of the hair follicles weren’t functional, resulting in the patchy coat, but the cats were otherwise completely healthy, so they’ve begun a breeding program to increase the number of registered Lykoi. The little fur-balls are said to have very sweet dispositions, but just to be safe, you might not want to turn your back on them when the moon is full.

On a side note, does anyone else think these look like Espurr?

Source: Hachima Kikou

Images: Hachima Kikou, Lykoicat.com