Calico Cats

Calico cats are a breed of cat, Calico is a color pattern. Be called "Calico", a cat with black, white and orange in her coat. The variations of these colors are gray, cream and ginger. Calico has real large patches of these three colors, while a tortoise shells or "shell" is a mixture of these colors are often mixed or swirled together rather than separate blocks of color. The size of the patches can vary from a fine speckled areas of many colors. Generally, the more white a cat has, the stronger the color patches. In Britain, these cats called "tortoiseshell and white". We have several pictures of cute kittens calico.

Long-haired calico cat

Many people are surprised to learn that most cats with this coat are women. This is due to genetics. Coat color in cats is a physical characteristic related to sex. Females have two X chromosomes (XX), males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome (XY). The genetic codes of the color of black or orange peel found on the X chromosome The code for white is a totally different gene.

Calico Cats

Since women have two X chromosomes, can display two colors (orange and black, or variations thereof), and white, creating a combination of 3 colored calico. Since men have only one X chromosome, which can be orange or black. The complex process of dominant and non dominant genes in the middle too, but is the basis of coat color of these cats.

I'm not saying that most calicos are female. They can be male, in rare cases. In this case, the cat has two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome (XXY). Cats with this chromosomal composition is typically sterile ... is like a human condition called Klinefelter syndrome.

Interestingly, the October 1, 2001, the calico cat became the official state cat of Maryland in the United States.