You must have been busy with that paintbrush, MP, since I have two orange female cats from the same litter. (Well, OK, one of them is dilute orange--sort of sandalwood-colored--but the other is bright orange).
Orange is an X-linked recessive trait. Females can be orange, if both their X-chromosomes have that trait, but it is MUCH more common in males (since all they have is the one X-chromosome). Of course if you have a particular lineage where there are lots of orange-X's, orange females will be more frequent in that lineage. But overall, they are uncommon.
Tortoiseshells and calicos are almost always female, as their color pattern comes from X-linked inactivation (mosaicism).
Geneticists love cats! They illustrate a number of basic principles very well.
She looks a bruiser.
ReplyDeleteI know just how he* feels. I felt that just this morning.
ReplyDelete*Am I remembering correctly that IT told us that genetically, all orange cats are male?
Male cats and those female cats that I have painted orange.
ReplyDeleteAm I remembering correctly that IT told us that genetically, all orange cats are male?
ReplyDeleteHuh?
Skittles' brother once had a bright orange female cat named "Lucy" (after Lucille Ball, as Yanks will get).
As cats are, she was independent---a little TOO independent, and she lit out for parts unknown. God keep ye safe where'er ye are, Lucy...
Why am I not surprised that JCF was good friends with a lesbian cat?
ReplyDeleteYou must have been busy with that paintbrush, MP, since I have two orange female cats from the same litter. (Well, OK, one of them is dilute orange--sort of sandalwood-colored--but the other is bright orange).
ReplyDeleteWhy am I not surprised that JCF was good friends with a lesbian cat?
ReplyDeleteO_o
I'd call that a radical interpretation of the text, MP.
Usually, but not always, Dahveed.
ReplyDeleteOrange is an X-linked recessive trait. Females can be orange, if both their X-chromosomes have that trait, but it is MUCH more common in males (since all they have is the one X-chromosome). Of course if you have a particular lineage where there are lots of orange-X's, orange females will be more frequent in that lineage. But overall, they are uncommon.
Tortoiseshells and calicos are almost always female, as their color pattern comes from X-linked inactivation (mosaicism).
Geneticists love cats! They illustrate a number of basic principles very well.