Mandalays and new colour Burmese
Mandalays were developed from Burmese in New Zealand in the 1980s. They are identical to Burmese in every respect except coat colour - they come in the same range of coat colours as the Oriental shorthair. Colours are more intense than in the equivalent Burmese - for example, the chocolate Mandalay is a rich dark, uniform chocolate brown, whereas the chocolate Burmese is a soft fudge colour with darker shadings on the face and ears. NZ Cat Fancy regulations allow Burmese and Mandalays to be freely mated together.
We were instrumental in expanding the range of colours available by introducing the cinnamon gene through a planned breeding programme in the 1990s. The caramel gene was also introduced at the same time. These genes have resulted in new colours in the Burmese range as well as in Mandalays.
Please consult the NZCF Mandalay Standard of Points document (pdf file) for more information on the Mandalay breed standard.
Our Current Mandalay Breeding Cats
Queen:
Zanyminx Mazurka.
Zanyminx Mazurka was bred by Jan Parsons and sired by Champion Rafoej Unforgettable who was bred by us and is owned by Jan. Mazurka is an ebony ticked golden tabby and carries the cinnamon and dilute genes.
Queen:
Rafoej Dream Weaver.
Dream is a chocolate Burmese bred from our cinnamon Mandalay programme and carries the genes for cinnamon and dilute (lilac/fawn). She will be used for breeding cinnamon and fawn Mandalays and Burmese.
Queen:
Rafoej Ophrah.
Rafoej Ophrah is the daughter of Hope and Tiger. She is an ebony ticked tabby Mandalay carrying Burmese and dilute. It would be great if she carried the classic tabby gene as her grandfather Tabasco does - we'll have to wait and see. Her type is excellent, her head stunning and her coat lovely and soft and sleek. She is very affectionate with loads of character, but doesn't like strangers.
Queen:
Cairistona Rafoej Classical Solo.
This is Classy, Cairistona Rafoej Classical Solo. She is the first ever classic tabby Mandalay. Classic tabbies are the tabbies with bold swirling patterns on the body rather than vertical stripes or small spots. Classy is a real sweetie, and I'm very grateful to Christine and Mush for breeding her and letting me have her. Both her parents are Rafoej cats, and I've been quietly trying to get classic tabbies for more than 10 years. Classy's mother Solo is cinnamon so she will definitely carry that colour.
Stud:
Boloni Enigma Variation.
This is Enigma. He is one of the first representatives of a new colour that has popped up in Burmese. I am extremely grateful to Bob and Nicki Mackenzie for letting me have the first of these new colour kittens to be left entire, and being willing for me to do some experimental matings to work out the inheritance and expression of the colour.
Russett is the name that has currently (not necessarily permanently) been given to this new colour. They are not the result of any deliberate breeding programme - they just happened. They have completely traditional pedigrees - no silver, tabby or Mandalay anywhere in the background. The parents (one father and two mothers who are mother and daughter) are all seal Burmese. There is dilute and chocolate in the pedigree but no red, cream or tortie for several generations back.
The parentage has been confirmed by DNA test. Three of the russets (there have been six so far in four different litters) have also been tested for all the colour genes for which tests are available, and the tests show them to be indistinguishable from standard seal (in one case chocolate) Burmese at these genes - the new colour is not a reversion to tabby, but something completely new. Further DNA testing is currently being done in California to try to isolate the gene involved.
As kittens russets look rather like tabbies. However, they have pink noses and pads, pale fur around the pads and genitalia and a pale tail-tip - all these areas are dark in tabbies. As they mature they turn much more red - the reddest of them is getting quite similar to a red Burmese, and none of them is yet more than two years old. However, unlike red, this colour doesn't appear to be sex linked, but to be inherited as a recessive.
They are shown as any other colour Burmese - BUR Z, with no standard and no challenge status yet.
