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Something I learned in my Biology class today:

The color alleles on cats are located on the X chromosomes in DNA. Calicos and tortoiseshell cats are usually female because they have an orange X chromosome and a black X chromosome. These two colors will be co-dominant, meaning that neither one or another will be prevalent on the cat's body. This is why calicos and tortoiseshell cats have random patterns of orange and black fur (the white fur, if any, is just a sort of background to the color).

Since two X chromosomes in an animal means that it is female and a XY sex chromosome layout means that the animal is male, it is extremely rare for a male cat to have both the orange and the black X chromosomes required for the calico coat. For this to be possible, the male cat must have a XXY layout of chromosomes - the equivalent of the human Klinefelter's Syndrome. This syndrome almost always leads to the sterility of the animal that has it, although there have supposedly been cases where individuals with Klinefelter's have been fertile. And as to why Klinefelter's causes sterility, I don't have a clue.

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16y ago

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