#And act as a cool xenofiction vessel for exploring biodiversity of an area

[bonefall]

I'm still on this. I think there are some who don't realize just how far removed a serval is from a domestic cat both genetically and behaviorally, how different ALL wild cats are from domestic housecats, what has to be done to make savanna cats, and also just how much of a problem these wild hybrids are

Molly housecats are crossed to tom servals. No molly serval has ever taken a tom housecat. Do you understand why it is wrong to breed a dachsund to a great dane? Especially an animal that bites as part of its courtship? Then you should understand why this is bad.

Servals and housecats have different gestational periods. All F1 savannas are born prematurely. This is also Bad.

Hybrid cats (of ALL crossings) are more prone to diseases like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, irritable bowel disease, and progressive renal atrophy. If you understand why lykoi and scottish folds are inherently unethical, you should understand why this is bad.

Servals are not pets, they are wild animals. They have needs well beyond a domesticated animal and are literally not built to be human companions.

Unlike domestic cats which form clowders when feral because of their domestication, wild servals do not do this. No other wild cat does this. This is a domestic cat behavior.

Servals are in a completely different genus. Domestic cat: Felinae/Felis/Catus Serval: Felinae/Leptailurus/Serval

Compare humans and chimpanzees. Human: Homini/Homo/Sapien Chimpanzee: Homini/Pan/Troglodytes

The BIGGEST threat to the conservation of several Felinae species is crossings with feral domestic cats, right behind habitat loss and poisoning. Real-world domestic cats are the most invasive species in the world and part of that is how they are diluting wild cat populations; the natural mesopredators of an area.

(Note: If I hear a single clown in my comments or replies trying to give me the talking point that 'Actually Humans Are The Most Invasive Species' I'm going to beat you to death with a copy of The Rise of Ecofascism: Climate Change and the Far Right.)

If you can understand that people breeding wolf x dog hybrids is bad you should also understand that exotic cat mixes are also bad. No matter how diluted they become with outcrossing, they should not have been bred in the first place.

They were, and ARE, the result of humans who want to feel special about having an exotic animal instead of getting a boring old normal cat bred for thousands of years to love you and have its needs met by you. There is a reason why these animals require a license or are outright banned in many areas.

"Ohhh but a savanna cat is so much smarter and more active than a cat, i want to take my pet for a walk--" GET. A. DOG.

Sanctuaries have a hard time taking these cats because of breeders that sell them to rich morons who get Surprised Pikachu when the wild animal hybrid they bought for several thousand dollars suddenly starts acting like....... get this......... a wild animal.

Even for the exotic cat hybrids in the same family, the other 6 of the 7 Felinae species, please, I'm gonna bold this,

Wild cats are solitary animals!

Wild cats do not form complex social groups! Nor do they have a social need!

Only domestic cats and lions do this!

Early generation hybrid cats require that aforementioned license because they don't take to litterboxes and spray the whole house (even when neutered), are aggressive, have sharp wild instincts and a desire to wander and make their own, individual territories

Wild cats do not form clowders if left on their own. Domestic cats are incredibly, profoundly unique. This is something we only see in domestic cats and lions, a feline species so far removed it can't meow

No, not even the other 6 species in the Felinae subfamily. Jungle cats, black-footed cats, european wildcats, sand cats, chinese mountain cats, and african wild cats do not form non-familial social groups, let alone caracals and servals

Domestication did that to them. That is why Fluffy loves you.

So why would animals that do not even have societies invent their own full languages?

Who are they talking to when Clan cats aren't around? What are they saying besides, "GET OUT" and "I'm a hot single in YOUR area!"

This is the fundamental reason why I personally will never entertain the idea that wild cats can learn how to truly speak Clanmew. If they ever did, I would firmly put it on the same level as Noam Chimpsky's (actual name) "GIVE ME ORANGE" sentence; an understanding of some basic words with no grammatical structure.

Hybrids I would treat on the same level as something half-apelike. But, I don't even see a need for that. Wild cats exist in their own ecological niches-- why could Clan cats not just interact with them like the strange, solitary wild predators they are?

There's plenty of social animals out there waaay more likely to develop their own species' version of languages, even rudimentary ones. Monkeys, elephants, parrots, wolves, european rabbits, even other domesticated species like cows and dogs. Why the solitary wild cats?

Wild cats are such a neat concept for Clan cats to explore! Why ruin such a unique opportunity just to have "Clan Cats 2"? If they're going to have a whole culture and language and are exactly the same as their domestic relatives, why not just make them into a different Clan?

What's unique about them if they're just Special Exotic Loners who can be recruited and reasoned with like any other domestic cat? Don't even call them wild cats. That's just a rogue or loner with a special coat now.

I find it personally antithetical to my ecological fixes and expansions, and it's why I'm passionate about it for my own worldbuilding!

Bonefall, what about wild cats? Like servals, ocelots, water cats.ect? How does your worldbuilding effect them? People own them as exotic pets, so it would be possible for them to learn townmew and maybe clanmew as well-

Personally I will be ruling No in my own rewrite. Chimpanzees can't speak no matter how hard we try to force them (the sign language thing is baloney) so why would humans keeping exotic felines allow them to speak Townmew?

It's deeply unethical to both own exotic pets, and to attempt crossing them with domestic counterparts. I won't write legitimacy of that practice into the BFRW by saying those solitary animals are perfectly capable of acquiring and speaking language, and can happily join a Clan

They aren't domestic pets. They are wild animals. They should be in an accredited zoo, well-funded sanctuary, or back in their natural habitat.

They don't naturally have a concept of society, or of language like cats in this area do. If a hybrid joined a Clan, then it's capable of some language, but should be treated as half-man, half-gorilla.