Youyou, Timour and “Lynx du Laos”

The short version: In our current research status, it is Youyou, whom Marcel Baudoin-Crevoisier in 1931 identifies with the designation “Lynx du Laos”. Timour de Madalpour is, by contrast, securely registered one generation later in LOS as the son of Hiram-Roi 1er and Poupée. The former conclusion Timour = Laotian Lynx has therefore been rejected.

A name that seemed to solve the mystery

Modern pedigree databases have in some cases placed a cat called Laotian Lynx in the position where the Swiss stud book later shows Timour. That made a simple explanation tempting: perhaps Timour and “Laotian Lynx” were simply two names for the same cat.

This was also an earlier working hypothesis in our research. But it had to be abandoned when an earlier and more direct text was found. Marcel Baudoin-Crevoisier’s article Le Chat de Birmanie, II from 1931 explicitly names Youyou as the cat referred to as Lynx du Laos, and connects Youyou with Poupée and their offspring Hiram-Roi.

Baudoin 1931: Youyou receives the Laos name

Baudoin’s text is important because it is closer to the events than later breed histories and genealogies. Youyou is not merely mentioned in passing; he is directly linked to the designation Lynx du Laos and to the early Poupée narrative.

This moves the “Laos cat” away from Timour and back to an earlier generation. In Baudoin’s account, Youyou × Poupée is linked with Hiram-Roi. Herefter beskriver Baudoin fortsatte tilbageparringer omkring Poupée.

LOS no. 9: Timour appears one generation later

The Swiss LOS material gives us a different kind of evidence: a registered genealogical chain. Here Timour de Madalpour is recorded as offspring of Hiram-Roi 1er × Poupée. Timour is then himself mated with Poupée and becomes the sire of Lon-Saito de Madalpour.

This means that Timour does not simply have “another name” in this registration. He has a specific position after Hiram-Roi. If Youyou/Lynx du Laos appears before Hiram-Roi in Baudoin, while Timour appears after Hiram-Roi in LOS, the two cannot simply be the same genealogical individual.

Reney 1947 makes “Laos” even more interesting

In 1947 Marcel Reney reproduces a later clarification which he attributes to Baudoin. Here Poupée’s partner is described as a Siamese male, who for the occasion had been given the designation chat du Laos. This changes the meaning of the name considerably.

“Lynx du Laos” or “chat du Laos” can therefore no longer be used as evidence of a distinct Laotian cat breed or a securely imported population from Laos. The term may have been a name or a staged exotic designation attached to a Siamese-related male.

So why did “Laotian Lynx” end up with Timour?

We cannot document that with one single original source. But when modern pedigrees are compared with Baudoin and LOS, the placement appears to be a generational displacement or compression: an early narrative name has been moved forward in the chain and has taken over a position that the registered stud book assigns to Timour.

This is exactly the kind of error that can become very stable. Once one database is copied by other databases, secondary information may look more certain simply because it appears in many places. The number of repetitions, however, is not the same as the number of independent sources.

And then there is the problem of the name Youyou

The name Youyou appears in several places in the cat world of the 1920s. A Lyon show catalogue from 1926 lists a Siamese Youyou owned by M. Perrot together with Siamette, Zozo, Zézette and Mouhoutte. There is also a Youyou trail in the American CFA stud book from 1929.

It is tempting to connect these records, but shared names are not enough. Our current method therefore keeps at least three Youyou trails separate: Baudoin’s Youyou/Lynx du Laos, Perrot’s Youyou in Lyon and the CFA Youyou. They should only be merged if owner, age, registration or other contemporary documentation builds a bridge between them.

What does this change in Birman history?

It changes more than just a name in a pedigree. When Youyou is moved back to the position Baudoin gives him and Timour remains in his registered LOS position, the early breeding structure becomes clearer: Poupée stands at the centre of a series of very close backcrosses.

The history therefore looks less like a linear story of a series of independent “founders” and more like a documentable, selective construction of a population around a small number of cats. That matters both genealogically and historically.

Current research status

Sources behind the article