Almost all tortoiseshell cats are female! About 1 in 3,000 tortoiseshell cats are male, making them quite uncommon. If you’ve ever met a tortie, chances are, they were female. If a cat with a tri-colored coat comes to mind (most commonly white, orange, and black), you’re actually thinking of a calico cat! Since calicos can have tortoiseshell patches, it’s completely understandable if you’ve been mixing up torties and calicos. The most common coat style of tortoiseshell cats is probably the one you’re thinking of when you picture them: mosaic, with the colors randomly mixed together. Torties with the tabby pattern are often called “torbies.” Several different types of breeds can exhibit tortoiseshell markings, such as Maine Coons. The “red” patches can sometimes be cream, orange, yellow, or gold, and the “black” can sometimes be gray, chocolate, or tabby. The pattern combines two colors - and never white - and is typically described as ginger-red and black. Tortoiseshell cats aren’t a specific breed but are cats with a distinctive coat pattern, similar to tortoiseshell material. Tortoiseshell cats aren’t a specific breed. Whether you’re interested in adopting a tortie or just want to learn more about these magnificent cats, here are a few fun facts about them. Rarely, a genetic mutation can result in a cat being born with an extra chromosome (XXY), leading to a male calico or tortoiseshell cat, but for the most part, it’s purely a ladies’ club.All cats are unique and beautiful in their own way, but there’s something special about tortoiseshell cats, nicknamed “torties.” Their coats are certainly eye-catching and their reputation for being a bit feisty is infamous. In 2002, when scientists cloned a calico cat named Rainbow, the clone kitten had vastly different coloring from Rainbow, even though their genes were exactly the same.īecause X-inactivation only happens if there are multiple X chromosomes in one cell, coloration patterns that stem from the process tend to only pop up in female cats. Even with the exact same genetic make-up, a calico cat’s coloration would be different than her twin’s because it’s random whether a cell codes for orange or black fur. The particular pattern of a multi-colored cat’s coat comes down to chance, meaning that even among the same family, no cat will have the same coloration. No calico cat will ever look identical to another. The donor cat (left) and resulting cloned kitten (right, with surrogate mother). The same is true for those coding for black. One of those primordial skin progenitor cells that happens to have an active orange allele will give rise to a cohesive blob of millions of cells in the fully developed cat, forming a big orange blotch. The inactivation happens very early in development, when the cat-in-the-making is still just a ball of cells, and the particular nature of skin tissue is that cells and their progeny stay close together. If a female cat inherits one X chromosome with the black allele and one with the orange version, each cell will have both versions, but X-inactivation means that some of her skin cells will code for orange and some for black. On the X chromosome of cats is a skin- and fur-color gene that has two variations (alleles) that dictate either orange fur or black fur. Rather than being overwhelmed by the double dose of genes provided by having two X chromosomes-each carries more than 1,000 genes-lady organisms have developed something called X-chromosome inactivation, a process that effectively hits the mute button on one of the two X-chromosomes in a cell. It comes down to genetics.įemales (of all sorts, not just cats) have two X chromosomes, while males have an X and a Y. There’s a reason that colorful cats, like tortoiseshells and calicos, tend to be female.
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