The most known and famous animal of Iran, is Persian cat. Although Iran has many many other famous wild and domestic animals but it is the "Persian cat" that you hear, if you ask any body around the world about the Iranian animals.

The history of the Persian cat will never be known with certainly, but this longhair cat may have mated with Angoras after it moved to Italy during the 16th century.

It's original roots back to 1684 B.C. But the interesting thing is that this beautiful and lovely pet, just for the last 1300 of 5000 years of the Iranian great history became the most likable pet of the people in this country. The early Zoroastrian Persians that loved and respected the "dog" as a holy animal, had some harsh rules against cats, because they saw it as a symbol of the Satan. This situation changed when the Iranians became Moslems and since then until now, they see the dog as an impure animal and they prefer cats as a pet in their homes. But anyhow black cat stated as a sign of bad luck in the Iranian folklore.

Cats are very close to our history too. For example, when kambiz (the son of great Cyrus) marched to Egypt in 525 B.C He knew that cats are holy for these people. So every Persian soldier took with him a cat and when they arrived to Pharaoh's army, the Egyptian that saw these cats, submit with no fights.

Also it is known that for the first time cat came to China from Iran, as a gift of the king of Persia.

Persian cats later spread to France and Great Britain, where they gained popularity with royal figures such as queen victoria and Edward VII. An exodus to North America began in the late 19th century and In our time Persian cat in number one cat in popularity in the United States.

Persians remain one of the oldest and most popular breeds today, both as pets and show animals. Their coats span a wide range of color including solid, shaded, smoke, tabby, particolor and point colors.