Calico and Orange genetics question

[bugmankeith]

Is it true most Calico cats are female and most Orange cats are male? If so, and you bred the 2 recessive cats together (male calico with female orange) would the offspring also show recessive traits or be normal colored?

 

[GemsGem]

Right ok so...

Calico cats are red, black and white


To be a female you have two X chromosomes.
To be a male you have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome.

So females are XX
And males XY

The red and black gene are ONLY carried on the X chromosome. So males only have one X chromosome so they can only be EITHER red or black.

Females have two X's so they can be BOTH red and black

Now not sure what you mean by recessive traits as both red and black are dominant colours not recessive ???

If you mate a calico female (red,black and white) to a red male the offspring will be

All males will be red coloured with or without white.

Females will be mostly calico's (red,black and white) or torties's (red and black) or possibly all red with or without white.

 

[bugmankeith]

Right ok so...

Calico cats are red, black and white


To be a female you have two X chromosomes.
To be a male you have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome.

So females are XX
And males XY

The red and black gene are ONLY carried on the X chromosome. So males only have one X chromosome so they can only be EITHER red or black.

Females have two X's so they can be BOTH red and black

Now not sure what you mean by recessive traits as both red and black are dominant colours not recessive ???

If you mate a calico female (red,black and white) to a red male the offspring will be

All males will be red coloured with or without white.

Females will be mostly calico's (red,black and white) or torties's (red and black) or possibly all red with or without white.

Ok so basically I was asking are red females rare like calico males? What is the result of a calico Male and red Female?

 

[GemsGem]

About 25% of red cats are female. This is because the black gene is pretty common so a lot of the cat population carry the black gene. So females normally inherit one black one red gene rather than two red genes from their parents.

To get a calico male, now this is rare ! Approximately 1 in 3,000 Because calico males have an extra chromosome making three all together two X's and one Y. ( XXY ) These cats are usually sterile because of the imbalance of sex chromosome. So no babies !!!

The mating between a male calico and red female would produce exactly the same as a mating between female calico and red male. No difference.

Males would be red with or without white
Females would be torties or red with or without white.

A male calico would NOT produce other male calico's. As a male calico is the result of a problem at conception when the foetus is developing. Nothing to do with either parent.

 

[bugmankeith]

Got it! Thanks for explaining!