<P> In the late 18th century, Peter Simon Pallas had advanced the hypothesis that the manul (also known as Pallas's cat) might be the ancestor of the long haired domestic cat . He had anecdotal evidence that established even though the male offspring would be sterile hybrids, the female offspring could again reproduce with domestic cats and pass on a small proportion of the manul's genes . In 1907, zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock refuted this claim, citing his work on the skull differences between the manul and the Angoras or Persians of his time . This early hypothesis overlooked the potential for cross breeding within the family Felidae . For example, the Savannah Cat is a cross-breed between a DSH - Bengel and a wild African Serval--both of which have different skulls and evolutionary lineage . Furthermore, hybrid females in the related Panthera genus, such as ligers and tigons, have successfully mated in many documented cases, producing liligers and titigons . </P> <P> The first modern, formal breeds of long - haired cats were the Persian and the Angora (after Ankara, Turkey) and were said to have come from those two areas . </P>

Why are there not more long haired cats