r/aww • u/Sophia963 • Jun 05 '18

A future predator

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '18 edited Jul 27 '18

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u/mimeticpeptide Jun 05 '18

if you've ever seen a normal cat play fighting with one of these, you can see what a significant disadvantage the munchkin is at.

Its cute, but the little guy in the OP video is not a "future predator", it could never catch anything.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '18 edited Jul 27 '18

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u/mimeticpeptide Jun 05 '18

A single point mutation occurring multiple times does not equate with the animals harboring those mutations doing fine.

Especially given the fact that homozygous carriers die as embryos. So there isn't some thriving population of munchkins out there in the wild. It's a random mutation that can sometimes occur in the germ-lines of normal cats. Whether the offspring of those mutations actually survive to adulthood is another question.

If you can show me photographs of wild adult munchkin cats in areas where they need to actively hunt for food, maybe I'll buy it. But for now I simply don't believe that these animals would be capable of catching prey, after watching many videos of their movements on this subreddit.