Today, Mengpet.com will introduce to you a magical cat species: the calico cat.

What is a calico cat

Calico cats refer to cats that have three colors: white, black, and orange (foreigners like to think of orange as red). Calico cats refer to the color of the cat’s fur, not the cat’s breed.

So there are three-flowered garden cats, three-flowered garden cats, three-flowered lion cats, three-flowered ragdoll cats, three-flowered hairless cats, etc., but the most common ones are three-flowered garden cats.

The formation of calico cats

Why do calico cats have three colors and how are they formed? This has something to do with the genes of the cat’s appearance.

There are three types of genes that affect the appearance of cats: the first is to manage color, with only black genes and orange genes; the second is to manage markings, including solid colors, tiger spots, leopard prints, etc.; the third is to manage stripes, etc. The gene is a gene that dilutes the color of a cat's coat.

For example, white is not a cat’s color gene, but a color produced by diluting the color gene. Similarly, orange may be diluted into different shades of golden yellow or cream by diluting genes, and black may also be diluted into blue. Calico cats are the product of black cats + orange cats + diluted color genes.

Among the calico cats, there is a cat with a large area of ​​dark fur, with a small amount of white and orange hair, which looks a bit messy. Because the color is very similar to that of a turtle, it is called a tortoiseshell cat (hereinafter referred to as a tortoiseshell cat) Tortoiseshell and British tortoiseshell cats are different). In fact, calico cats are tortoiseshell cats with diluted colors.

Calico cats have genes for both color management and color dilution in their bodies, so they will show three different colors.

In addition to tortoiseshell cats and calico cats, there is also a cat color scheme called the soft calico cat. The black on their bodies is diluted by the dilution gene, showing three colors of blue, light cream and white. It’s just that this kind of cat is relatively rare.

Why are most calico cats female

There is a saying: out of ten three-flowered cats, nine are female, and the remaining one is half-female (a male cat with no fertility). This is not a rumor, but has a scientific basis.

Let’s first learn about the chromosomes of male and female cats. Male cats have XY chromosomes and female cats have XX chromosomes. The gene that controls coat color only exists on the X chromosome. Therefore, most calico cats with three coat colors are female cats with XX chromosomes.

According to scientists’ statistics, one special cat with XXY chromosomes will appear in every 3,000 cats. It appears to have the characteristics of a male cat, but due to the dyeingUnable to conceive due to physical abnormalities. And "false male cats" with XXY chromosomes have a chance to become calico cats!

The calico cat is the prototype of the Lucky Cat

Because male calico cats are very rare, it is very lucky to have a male calico cat. However, due to chromosomal abnormalities, the life span of male calico cats is shorter than that of female cats.

Japanese people especially like calico tom cats. In the past, people didn’t know the origin of calico tom cats, but they were rare and valuable. They believed that calico tom cats symbolized luck, so there were calico tom cats. It is said that the store can attract wealth.

This is the prototype of the lucky cat. As time goes by, the shapes of the lucky cat have become more and more abundant, but most of them still retain the elements of the calico cat.

The personality of the calico cat

Because most calico cats are female cats, calico cats are not very clingy and are more independent and stable.

But! Tortoiseshell cats are different. Most tortoiseshell cats are very jealous and very alert. They have a strong sense of master status and have a domineering personality.

However, the personality of most cats still depends on the environment. If there is a scavenger who loves it to the sky, calico cats can also be compared with orange cats and cow cats.