The unusual characteristic of a hairless cat was probably a naturally spontaneous mutation in the breed. "The Book of the Cat" published in 1903 refers to a pair of hairless cats called Mexican Hairless, which was obtained from a New Mexican couple from local Pueblo Indians. The breed later resurfaced when a couple of Siamese cats gave birth to three hairless kittens in 1950 in Paris. And although subsequent mating between the same pair produced the same result, breeding with other Siamese cats did not lead to hairless offspring.
Other hairless specimens were discovered in Morocco, Australia, North Carolina, and in Toronto, Canada, where in 1966, a pair of domestic shorthairs produced a litter that included a hairless kitten. It was then that the modern Sphynx came into existence.