the original story behind the cross was that the two types of cats were being kept and bred in separate holding ponds, but that during the rainy season ( both cats are native to the Amazon river in South America) the ponds overflowed into one another and the cats inadvertenly cross-bred. The real truth of the matter is that Japanese were the source of crossed-up cats. They have been messing around with fish genetics for quite some time: they are the only source of domestically bred clown loachs, red tail sharks, rummy nose tetras etc. all forced to breed by artifical application of hormones.They are also the origin of the infamous parrot cichlid.Though the cross is often a handsome animal , they are in themselves inable to reproduce ; which leaves them at a dead end.