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The Norwegian Forest cat ((ノルウェー語:Norsk skogkatt) or ') is a breed of domestic cat native to Northern Europe. This natural breed is adapted to a very cold climate, with top coat of glossy, long, water-shedding hairs, and a woolly undercoat for insulation. Although this is uncertain, the breed's ancestors may have been a landrace of short-haired cats brought to Norway by the Vikings around 1000 AD, who may also have brought with them long-haired cats, like those ancestral to the modern Siberian and Turkish Angora breeds. During World War II, the breed became nearly extinct until efforts by the Norwegian Forest Cat Club helped the breed by creating an official breeding program. It was registered as a breed with the European Fédération Internationale Féline in the 1970s, when a local cat fancier, Carl-Fredrik Nordane, took notice of the breed and made efforts to register it. Currently, the Norwegian Forest breed is very popular in Norway, Sweden, Iceland and France. It is a big, strong cat, similar to the American Maine Coon breed, with long legs, a bushy tail and a sturdy body. The breed is very good at climbing, since they have strong claws. The lifespan is usually 14 to 16 years, though kidney and heart diseases have been reported in the breed. Specifically in this breed, complex rearrangements of glycogen branching enzyme (GBE1) can cause a perinatal hypoglycaemic collapse and a late-juvenile-onset neuromuscular degeneration in glycogen storage disease type IV. == History == The Norwegian Forest cat is adapted to survive Norway's cold weather. Its ancestors may include black and white shorthair cats brought to Norway from Great Britain some time after 1000 AD by the Vikings, and longhaired cats brought to Norway by Crusaders. These cats could have reproduced with farm and feral stock and may have eventually evolved into the modern-day Norwegian Forest breed. The Siberian and the Turkish Angora, longhaired cats from Russia and Turkey, respectively, are also possible ancestors of the breed.〔 Norse legends refer to the ''skogkatt'' as a "mountain-dwelling fairy cat with an ability to climb sheer rock faces that other cats could not manage."〔 Since the Norwegian Forest cat is a very adept climber, author Claire Bessant believes that the ''skogkatt'' folktale could be about the ancestor of the modern Norwegian Forest breed. The name ''Norse skogkatt'' is used by some breeder and fancier organisations for the modern breed. Most likely the ancestors of the Norwegian Forest cat served as ships' cats (mousers) on Viking ships.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.cfainc.org/Breeds/BreedsKthruR/NorwegianForestCat.aspx )〕 The original landrace lived in the Norwegian forests for many centuries, but were later prized for their hunting skills and were used on Norwegian farms, until they were discovered in the early twentieth century by cat enthusiasts. In 1938 the first organisation devoted to the breed, the Norwegian Forest Cat Club, was formed in Oslo, Norway.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.lostwoodswegies.com/breed_info.htm )〕 The club's movement to preserve the breed was interrupted by World War II. Owing to cross-breeding with free-ranging domestic cats during the war, the Norwegian Forest cat became endangered and nearly extinct until the Norwegian Forest Cat Club helped the breed make a comeback by developing an official breeding program. Since the cat did not leave Norway until the 1970s, it was not registered as a breed in the Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe), the pan-European federation of cat registries, until Carl-Fredrik Nordane, a Norwegian cat fancier, took notice of the breed, and made efforts to register it.〔 The breed was registered in Europe by the 1970s, and in the American Cat Fanciers Association in 1994. In 1978, it was recognized in Sweden,〔("Kattförbundet Sverak" ) (in French). Sverak. Retrieved 2011-03-20.〕 and in 1989, they were accepted as a breed in the United Kingdom by the Norwegian Cat Club of Britain. The Norwegian Forest breed is very popular in Norway and Sweden. It has been the fifth most popular cat breed in France since 2003, where there are about 400 to 500 births per year.〔("Le Sphynx : Haut dans les cœurs du classement CFA" ) (in French). Aniwa. Retrieved 2010-12-06.〕〔("Bienvenue sur le site de l'Unité de Médecine de l'Elevage et du Sport de l'Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort" ). (in French). UMES. Retrieved 2011-03-12〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Norwegian Forest cat」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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