What are Maine Coons related to?

This is a very complicated area. Some parts of the answer might seem straightforward but the whole issue tricky. And it can't really be simplified. It is about DNA analysis ultimately. But there are some clear connections.

Maine Coon. Image in public domain.

Norwegian Forest cats

I am going to have to criticise the number one website on Maine Coon cats which is Maine Coon Central. It is a horrible site; it is written for 14-year-olds with a ton a waffle to pad out boring pages. I don't want to but they answered the question in the title and the author produced her usual huge amount of waffle and came to the conclusion that the Maine Coon cat is related to the Norwegian Forest Cat. And that is about it. The connection between the two is probably/possibly because there are stories about the Vikings bringing across from Norway longhaired cats hundreds of years before the European settlers emigrated to America.

Are Maine Coons and Norwegian Forest cats related?

It is possible although unlikely that Norwegian Forest cats came to America hundreds of years before longhaired European cats came to America with Europeans. And it might be that these Norwegian Forest cats are the ancestors of the Maine Coon in America. It is entirely speculative.

And there is a similarity in appearance between the two. Both are large cats and overall, they can be seen as quite similar but there are distinct differences and this is because the cat fancy created the Maine Coon cat (MC) and the Norwegian Forest cat (NFC). Both of them were moggies, random-bred cats before they became purebred cats registered with a cat association.

Artificial selection has messed up and broken the connection between modern Maine Coons and their history which affects the answer

Once accepted and recognised by the associations both the NFC and MC have been selectively bred over many years. Any DNA connection (excepting the underlying DNA connection) between the two has been eradicated through selective breeding in my view.

In fact, you might argue that the country or region of origin of any cat breed is no longer relevant. For example, you might say that the Egyptian Mau in America, another purebred cat, come from Egypt. But if you did a DNA test on the street cats of Egypt there will be no connection between those cats and the purebred Egyptian Mau because of selective breeding.

And you could argue that there is no connection between the Persian purebred cat and the longhaired Persian cats in Persia which is now called Iran. That's the point I'm making.

All breeds are related to the North African wildcat - ancient relatives

However, you can argue that all domestic cats whether they are purebred or random-bred are related. They definitely are related because they are all related to the North African wildcat. Domestic cats are domesticated African wildcats.

The nearest relative to the Maine Coon cat would be the North African wildcat in terms of strict DNA analysis. And that brings me to the wild cat species. Maine Coon Central asked whether the Maine Coon cat is related to the lynx or the bobcat and even the raccoon. The breed is not in any way related to these wild cat species except to say once again that all cats are related by their DNA.

Near relatives

In terms of domestic cats and in terms of near relatives if you like, the longhaired cats of Europe are the nearest historical relatives of the Maine Coon cat because they probably are the forerunners, about 400 years ago, of the Maine Coon cat (if you dump the story of the Vikings). These would have been longhaired random-bred cats because back in that day there are no formally recognised cat breeds.

All cats are ultimately related to each other if you go back far enough

Maine Coon Central also asks whether Maine Coon cats are related to lions? The obvious answer is no. But there is a natural connection in that all species of cat are connected and related because they have an ancient ancestor if you go back far enough.

Ultimately, it seems to me, that it is a question about how far you go back in time when analysing how cats are related. Almost all the DNA of lions and tigers is the same as the DNA of domestic cats including Maine Coon cats.

That makes them related in my book. But the nearest wildcat species to the Maine Coon cat, as mentioned, is the North African wildcat. It is said by some people that about half a dozen female wildcats were the founding individual cats of the entire domestic cat population today.

Evolution of the domestic cat

But evolution of the domestic cat over 10,000 years is very complicated. They say that the wildcat was domesticated in the area known today as Syria (Fertile Crescent) but it is probable to that there were other instances of domestication of the African wildcat in different places.

And commercial travellers would have travelled with their cats to various countries. And some small populations of domestic cats evolved separately from the general population such as the Manx because they were on an island. This separates them genetically to a certain extent. These are some of the complexities which muddy the answer as to DNA connections.

Biggest disruptor is artificial selection

But of all these complexities, the biggest 'disruptor' - if that is the right word - to the evolution of the Maine Coon cat and in analysing to which cats it is related is the fact, as mentioned, that they have been selectively bred for about a hundred years which by and large means that they have been bred to each other. 

But you wonder whether there are any connections left in terms of DNA between the modern Maine Coon cat and the original longhaired cats that were brought over to the east coast of America with the immigrants.

I think that is probably the most important question. Selective breeding distances the modern Maine Coon cat from their history. If there had been natural selection then you could probably trace the modern cat to the ancient one but when there is artificial selection which is another phrase meaning selective breeding, you break that natural evolution.

Best answer possibly

This is a complicated area but to return to the beginning, there might be a connection between the Norwegian Forest cat and the Maine Coon cat and therefore they might be related in that they might both have originally come from Norway. And in that country hundreds of years ago they would have been longhaired moggies to keep them warm in the cold winters, living as barn cats on farms keeping down the rodent population.