Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question, but I've never really understood how cats developed so many colors and patterns. I assume it has to do with selective breeding, where let's say when cats started being kept as pets, one cat had kittens with a new coat color, so they were bred among each other, or someone else's kittens with the same coat color to keep that specific color gene expressed? The cat's ancestors, Felis silvestris/wildcats all have more or less brown tabby coats (though I've heard there have been black wildcats), and I've heard early Egyptian cats also were usually tabbies. So how did we get bicolor, calico, longhair, etc? AFAIK, there's never been orange wildcats, but the gene would have to come from somewhere. The article on coat genetics from the home page is quite interesting, and it does mention something about white spotting as possibly one of the earliest new patterns. If cats had always lived in the wild, they'd apparently all be brown tabby cats, but if cats start developing white, it has to do with being domesticated, and hence selective breeding? This is interesting, as I've heard when cats went back to living in the wilderness in Australia, the ferals did revert to wildcat-like tabby coats. But how does that explain calico cats? Calicos can only be female, so I don't think selective breeding has an effect on it, but how are cat coat genes different from other felines?
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How exactly did cats get their colors and patterns?
- Thread starter nuser
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Not a dumb question by any means :nod: It still not fully understood how cats evolved into the domestics we know today
Now I'm no expert at all but I will give you my view on how I think domestics got their different coat colours and types.
First if you look at wild cats they got their colour and patterns by natural selection. They are predators so they need to be able to blend into their environment - not to be seen easily by their prey. Their coats colours and patterns evolved to help camouflage them.
It is believed our domestic cat evolved from different small wild cats species.
Wild small cats have either stripes, spots or are plain with no pattern at all.
This means our domestic cats can also have the same and explains why our cats can have pattern or lack of pattern - plain coloured.
Now for different coat colours
The different coat colours and hair types arise from gene mutations. This happens in wild cats too like white tigers etc.. I sure other colours have happened in wild cats, but these cats would have been at a disadvantage catching prey compared to their more camouflaged relatives. So more than likely these cats would die off before they had a chance to reproduce and pass on these new genes.
Our domestic cats don't have this problem as they have a contestant food source plus warmth and shelter from human. Meaning these gene mutations get past on to the next generation and so on, resulting in the range of coat colours and hair types we see today.
These mutations still happen and humans are intervening when it does to produce more cats with the same mutations. Like hairless cats, Devon rex with wire coats, curly eared cats and Munkins with shortened limbs.
This is just my view on it but I hope it helps
Now I'm no expert at all but I will give you my view on how I think domestics got their different coat colours and types.
First if you look at wild cats they got their colour and patterns by natural selection. They are predators so they need to be able to blend into their environment - not to be seen easily by their prey. Their coats colours and patterns evolved to help camouflage them.
It is believed our domestic cat evolved from different small wild cats species.
Wild small cats have either stripes, spots or are plain with no pattern at all.
This means our domestic cats can also have the same and explains why our cats can have pattern or lack of pattern - plain coloured.
Now for different coat colours
The different coat colours and hair types arise from gene mutations. This happens in wild cats too like white tigers etc.. I sure other colours have happened in wild cats, but these cats would have been at a disadvantage catching prey compared to their more camouflaged relatives. So more than likely these cats would die off before they had a chance to reproduce and pass on these new genes.
Our domestic cats don't have this problem as they have a contestant food source plus warmth and shelter from human. Meaning these gene mutations get past on to the next generation and so on, resulting in the range of coat colours and hair types we see today.
These mutations still happen and humans are intervening when it does to produce more cats with the same mutations. Like hairless cats, Devon rex with wire coats, curly eared cats and Munkins with shortened limbs.
This is just my view on it but I hope it helps
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I guess a lot of it has to do with selective breeding, especially the mutant breeds. I believe Cornish Rex cats were developed by breeding back the first Rex mutation to its mother, and many of the exotic breeds also do similar practices. But doesn't that mean the exotics are very inbred, especially the cats who can only come in one color or coat pattern?Not a dumb question by any meansIt still not fully understood how cats evolved into the domestics we know today
Now I'm no expert at all but I will give you my view on how I think domestics got their different coat colours and types.
First if you look at wild cats they got their colour and patterns by natural selection. They are predators so they need to be able to blend into their environment - not to be seen easily by their prey. Their coats colours and patterns evolved to help camouflage them.
It is believed our domestic cat evolved from different small wild cats species.
Wild small cats have either stripes, spots or are plain with no pattern at all.
This means our domestic cats can also have the same and explains why our cats can have pattern or lack of pattern - plain coloured.
Now for different coat colours
The different coat colours and hair types arise from gene mutations. This happens in wild cats too like white tigers etc.. I sure other colours have happened in wild cats, but these cats would have been at a disadvantage catching prey compared to their more camouflaged relatives. So more than likely these cats would die off before they had a chance to reproduce and pass on these new genes.
Our domestic cats don't have this problem as they have a contestant food source plus warmth and shelter from human. Meaning these gene mutations get past on to the next generation and so on, resulting in the range of coat colours and hair types we see today.
These mutations still happen and humans are intervening when it does to produce more cats with the same mutations. Like hairless cats, Devon rex with wire coats, curly eared cats and Munkins with shortened limbs.
This is just my view on it but I hope it helps
Felis silvestris in the wild vary in appearance almost purely on regional adaption. Wildcats in Europe are very husky, and have thick tabby coats as camouflage in the forests, while the Middle Eastern wildcats (from where housecats descend from) are sandy brown color, and have very long legs for stalking prey in the desert. Has anyone done any observations on feral cats' appearance and their environment? Like, would there be an obvious difference between an alley cat in UK, versus Canada (where winter gets to -40 Celsius)? I've never heard of a longhair feral cat, though, even in cold countries. My guess is the cat would overheat when hunting in the summer sun, but as a pet, it doesn't need to take care of its food source. Imagine a feral Persian.
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Calico cats can be male. They are fairly rare, though.
