Winged cats discovered in western China

Winged cats have been known to exist since the 19th century, but only a handful of people have actually seen–let alone owned–one. This woman in Sichuan province watched as her beloved kitty grew angel wings on his back last summer after a bunch of female cats tried to mate with him. "Many female cats in heat came to harass him, and then the wings started to grow," she said.

Geneticists have a less romantic theory. They believe it could be a genetic defect, a skin condition, or the result of poor grooming.

Link (Thanks, Annalee!)

( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)

I'm a contributing editor here at Boing Boing. I also have a blog (TokyoMango), a book (Urawaza), and I freelance for Wired, Make, the NY Times Magazine, PRI's Studio360, etc. I'm @tokyomango on Twitter.

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limesong45

Who switched the Cat’s milk with Red Bull?
se7a7n7

For some reason, this reminds me about the story of the now extinct Longhorses.
Takuan

extinct?
http://www.keiththompsonart.com/images/full/sleipnir.jpg
Anonymous

I CAN HAS LIFTOFF?
OLAF9000

OH! the LOL CAT HORROR!!! I CAN HAS (insert flying frase here) do i sense a flying cat meme here? nah… it’l naver take off!
manicbassman

#11… ah yes, messybeast.com… the lair of dragonqueen… and she still has the clingfilm photos there
OLAF9000

oh wait… sumone beat me to it :( “el gato volador”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijvq_LuNo1s its a song in spanish about a certain flying cat. lyrics in spanish…
sabik

They switched to soy milk.

Î·
LB

How the heck would poor grooming create wings? With bones?
Takuan

oh no! these are boneless cat-wings (we all know where this is heading)
ironcrow

Absolutely possible. They are not wings however. The fur has become matted and rolled. Just look at it, no bones, just matted up fur. Problem is that there will probably be very nasty sores beneath those wads of clumped up mattings.
monopole

It’s Kero-chan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s1755Jsyos&feature=related
Jeff

Takuan, where? KFC spicy cat wings? Yummo.
Cherib

Really now, somebody musta gave that can a Red Bull
mgfarrelly

Flying cats?

Well, that’s a wrap on humanity. See you all at the after party.
Anonymous

So when you click on the link, you get two more pictures. But when you compare the face pattern of the cat in the first picture with the other two, they’re different. So my question is how many winged cats are we looking at here? Or maybe…hmm…
guy_jin

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PtbjH8Tm4fM
mistervega

POOR GROOMING? Man, those are all lame reasons.

But if it’s true – I’m not taking anymore showers until I can fly.
ciaomeow

our cat, who looks similar to 1st pic, also had ‘wings’ in his 1st year, but only about 4-5″ long & not matted dread-locks. just longer hair at the rib, just behind the fore-leg. it was super cute, but when he started coughing up serious hair balls, we cut his ‘wings’. & of course, that hair is getting longer again.
carmenlyra

This is like national inquirer in the 1980′s
manicbassman

#2 you’ve obviously never seen the state a cat’s fur can get in when it becomes “matted”

I have no faith in this report… has anyone been able to check the cat using proper scientific instruments such as x-rays and ultrasound?
Drew from Zhrodague

DfZ to the rescue, with a link for winged cats. I found this site looking for information on polydactyl cats:

http://www.messybeast.com/winged-cats.htm
Lea Hernandez

Jane? Is that your kitten? (Catwings joke!)
jeffbell

It reminds me of the excellent children’s book by Ursula K. Le Guin called Catwings.

In the book the kittens are urged to leave the city by their mother, so they fly to the countryside.

They biggest danger they face is from the owl who realizes the threat they pose to her hatchlings, so the cat must stick to daytime flying.
Anonymous

Well golly gosh gee! Them people are sitting on a GOLDMINE! Not only does the second cat in the article, the calico, have wings, it is also claimed to be MALE! That poor kitty is one genetic abomination, isn’t it?
*sarcasm*

(For those who don’t know: brown and orange kitty coat colors are tied to the X chromosome with only one color being able to occupy the X. So for calicoes, tortoiseshells,etc, there has to be two X chromosomes, one for each color. So any “male” callie kitty is not genetically male. Back in the day “male” calicoes were worth a pretty penny… until it was eventually figured out that they were all sterile hermaphrodites.)
lightwheelmech

Anyone consider the possibility that winged cats are descendants of Dragons? Cats cant spit fire, but they got the hair ball thing down pat!
IamInnocent

All right, he is a cat with wings, so what ? Not the first, nor the last.

He is a male cat harassed, sexually, by *many* females: one male and a bunch of female that were into rough sex, now there’s a first!!!

Jean
cstatman

regular cats? meh
cats with wings? cool
Flying cats? AWESOME

Where’s my flying cat? (I know, you dont have to say it, he is with my rocket belt)
mr.skeleton

i can has rapture?
Anonymous

alien cat? becareful! they will invade the earth
Anonymous

I’ll believe it when cats fly…Ah crap.
midknyte

I for one welcome our new winged cat overlords
soupisgoodfood

If it’s a real winged cat, why does it still have front legs?
t3hmadhatter

#26
bwahahahahaha. i was thinking somewhat along the lines of “i can has human souls?” but yours is better.

on another point, are we even sure the wings HAVE bones?
Anonymous

Flying cats…birds are fukked
realnews

The link takes you to the DailyMail online site.

The DailyMail is the British version of the National Inquirer.

It’s not quite as bad but you can never believe anything printed in that rag.

enough said!
Antinous

Not to get all anatomical, but if the cat has wings and front legs, it would require two sets of pectoral muscles to operate them. Which is why the better sort of cinematic dragon only has two legs.
cubbybear

china was known for fugding up olympic photos so why not this too.
gonzilla

Astronomical Cat is real!

Astronomical Cat
Aeronautical flying cat.

Probably Coiffio’s most trusworthy of followers, Astronomonical Cat has succeeded in stealing the hamburger necklace and dismembering the arm of the King of Animals. Unfortunately, Coiffio didn’t really want him to do either of these things. Still, he’s cute.

He has an awesome theme tune.
Anonymous

I love that Catwings book. The idea of cats with wings is soooo COOL!
Frieden

So…it’s a griffin?
Bitty62268

I groomed cats for 6+ years and I can guarantee that those supposed “wings” are nothing more then matted fur. For starters they said the “wings” started to occur on the cats when the weather got hot, for one cat, and when the other cat became stressed. Both heat and stress will cause cats to excessively shed. If you have a long haired cat, which both “winged” cats are, and you don’t brush them during the excessive shedding they will get mats. When a long haired cat starts to mat up, and you do nothing about it, the mats will start to pull away from the skin and get extremely long and rock solid. The mats will actually get hard enough that you can’t cut through them with scissors, which is why they probably think there are bones in them. Also, one of the most common places for cats to develop these kinds of mats are between the shoulder blades because cats have a more difficult time twisting their heads back to groom those areas. Basically these are simple minded, superstitious people that don’t know any better. I had a customer before bring her cat in and try to tell me the cat had 4 ears because it developed a long pointed mat directly behind each ear. Man was she surprised when I shaved them off to reveal that her cat, in fact, only had two ears.
windforecast

Yay, if many females want to mate with me, I think I’ll grow wings, too. LOL. >_O
kcd

I believe that this cat is about to
EVOLVE… Like Human being? They evolving
in to different face or structure of body?
That is because of the blood of the men
or women genes. So the result is beautiful
or ugly man.
epic lulz

its in china….maybe the pollution caused it to grow wings….lulz
Zan

Is this real like the Long Horse is real, or real like the Coelacanth is real?
yakenyah

Oh really!? guys, better grow your wings and be the sexiest man ever lived!LOL
Sean Grimm

It’s just a baby dragon from the Lunar series.
aidge

UP NEXT!!! A PIG WITH WINGS! Now that would put an end to existence as we know it.
we3bus

@13

*blink* *blink* WHAT?!