Is it possible to override an inherited method with type parameter List with List?

I’m having trouble changing the type parameter of an inherited method.

abstract class Animal {
    abstract List<Animal> animalList();
}

public class Dog extends Animal {
    @Override
    public List<Dog> animalList() {
        ...
        ...
    }
}

public class Cat extends Animal {
    @Override
    public List<Cat> animalList() {
        ...
        ...
    }
}

All animal subclasses need to implement a method animalList. What’s the best practice of doing this if i want the best possible code regarding readability and maintainability? Please note that this is extremely simplified i comparison to the actual project.

Answer

I don’t know what the best solution is, but I would do the following:

import java.util.List;
abstract class Animal {
    abstract <T extends Animal> List<T> animalList();
}

…

import java.util.List;
public class Dog extends Animal {
    @Override
    List<Dog> animalList() {
        return null;
    }
}

…

import java.util.List;
public class Cat extends Animal{
    @Override
    List<Cat> animalList() {
        return null;
    }
}