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Every Cat Coat Color Explained in 12 Minutes — Transcript

by The_AbsurdExplainer · 2,006 words · 336 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Real talk, if you've got an orange cat,
0:02there's a good chance it's a boy. Like
0:05an overwhelming chance.
0:07That's not a coincidence and it's not a
0:08fluke of breeding either. That's a
0:10chromosome doing something wild behind
0:12the scenes and it's just the first crazy
0:14fact on this list. Cat black black is
0:17the most common cat color on the planet.
0:20It's also the most misunderstood.
0:23Genetically speaking, black is what
0:25scientists call a dominant color.
0:28When the gene isn't interrupted by any
0:30dilution mutation or pattern, the coat
0:32comes out exactly like that. Pure black
0:35nose to tail.
0:37But here's the thing, black is almost
0:39never just black. Catch one in strong
0:42sunlight and you'll spot a faint ghost
0:45of stripes underneath.
0:47A tabby pattern buried in the DNA that
0:50the dominant gene almost but not quite
0:53manages to cover up completely.
0:55And culturally,
0:57black cats have taken the biggest
0:59superstition hit of any color in the
1:01west. Bad luck which is the whole deal.
1:04While in plenty of Asian countries, that
1:06same black coat is considered good luck.
1:09The genetics never change. The story we
1:12slap on top of it does. But if black is
1:14the baseline, next up is basically it's
1:17total opposite. And the reason behind
1:19white is way more serious than it looks.
1:22Cat white white isn't the absence of
1:24color. It's a gene straight up masking a
1:27color that was already there. For real.
1:30Every white cat has a hidden base color
1:32coded into its DNA. Could have been
1:33black. Could have been orange. There's
1:36just a dominant masking gene that wipes
1:38out any visible pigment in the coat
1:39before it ever shows up.
1:41And that same gene comes with a
1:42consequence most owners have no clue
1:45about. White cats with blue eyes carry a
1:47noticeably higher risk of being born
1:49deaf.
1:50The reason is that the gene erasing the
1:52color also messes with how the inner ear
1:54cells develop. The bluer the eyes,
1:58and especially if both eyes are blue,
2:00the higher the odds.
2:02Now, if white is hiding a color, next up
2:05is a color that shouldn't really exist
2:07in males as often as it does. And the
2:09reason is genetic.
2:11And kind of a wild sex chromosome thing.
2:14Cat orange.
2:16Here's the science behind that fact from
2:18the intro.
2:19The orange gene sits on the X
2:21chromosome. And like every mammal, cats
2:24have two X's if they're female, and one
2:27X plus a Y if they're male. That means
2:29one thing straightforward as it gets.
2:32For a cat to be born orange, it only
2:34needs one X carrying the orange gene.
2:37And males only have one X to work with.
2:40Bottom line, the overwhelming majority
2:42of orange cats on Earth are male.
2:44Females only end up orange if both of
2:47their X chromosomes carry the gene at
2:49the same time. Way rarer.
2:52And there's a solid myth riding along
2:53with this color that orange cats are
2:55always goofy, chill, extra friendly.
2:59There's no genetic study proving
3:01personality is tied to coat color, but
3:03the behavior pattern owners report year
3:05after year is oddly consistent. And if
3:08orange is basically a male thing, the
3:11next one flips that script completely. A
3:13color that's genetically almost
3:15off-limits for males to even exist as.
3:17Cat calico. Take white, black, and
3:21orange. Slap all three on one cat.
3:24That's a calico. For that to happen, the
3:26cat needs two X chromosomes. One
3:29carrying the black gene, the other
3:31carrying the orange gene.
3:33Plus a white spotting gene layered on
3:35top, creating the patches.
3:37But here's the catch. Since orange lives
3:40on the X, and males only get one X, a
3:43male calico can only exist if he's born
3:46with a rare genetic condition called
3:48SXY.
3:49Basically, an extra chromosome tagging
3:51along. That makes male calicos so rare
3:54that statistically it's about one in
3:57every 3,000 tri-colored cats. And most
4:00of the time that male is sterile. So
4:02basically almost every calico you've
4:04ever seen was female. And on the rare
4:06occasion it wasn't, that's textbook rare
4:09genetics right there. And the next cat
4:11color is basically calico's sibling.
4:14Except it doesn't keep the patches
4:15separate. It blends everything into the
4:17same strand of fur.
4:20Cat tortoiseshell.
4:22If calico is a mosaic of separate
4:24patches, tortoiseshell is the shuffled
4:26up remix version.
4:29Black and orange mixing into the same
4:32fur minus the white on top.
4:35And the mechanism behind it actually has
4:37a name, X inactivation. Every single
4:41cell in a female cat's body randomly
4:43shuts off one of her two X chromosomes.
4:47And each X is carrying a different
4:48color. The result is a pattern that
4:50literally no other cat on Earth shares
4:53because it got decided cell by cell back
4:55when the cat was still an embryo.
4:57Basically, a tortoiseshell cat is
4:59walking around with two competing color
5:01DNAs. Each one winning in random patches
5:04of skin.
5:06Torbie owners will straight up tell you
5:07the coat comes with attitude. There's
5:09even a nickname for it, tortitude.
5:12Again, zero scientific proof of cause
5:14and effect. But the pattern of anecdotes
5:17repeats so often it's turned into a
5:19running joke among vets.
5:21Now, here's a pattern that isn't about
5:23solid color or blending at all.
5:25It's about the actual design. Cat tabby.
5:28Every single cat, deep down, is carrying
5:31the tabby gene. Even solid black cats
5:34like we covered earlier have the ghost
5:36of it.
5:37There are four main tabby patterns. Thin
5:40vertical stripes, mackerel. Big bold
5:42swirls,
5:44classic.
5:45Spots,
5:46spotted.
5:48And a subtler mosaic called ticked,
5:51where each individual hair carries
5:52multiple bands of color.
5:55And that M on the forehead, not
5:57decoration. It shows up on almost every
6:00tabby in existence.
6:02Biologists think it's a direct leftover
6:04from the domestic cat's wild ancestors,
6:06who used that pattern for camouflage in
6:08dry brush.
6:10Translation.
6:12Next time you're looking at some striped
6:13tabby lounging on your couch, you're
6:15basically looking at a slightly remixed
6:17version of a predator that used to hunt
6:19in the desert thousands of years ago.
6:21And if tabby is about pattern,
6:23the next one is about intensity. Because
6:25there's a gene that takes any strong
6:27color and cuts its volume straight in
6:29half.
6:31Cat gray.
6:33That satiny gray that looks like an
6:34Instagram filter,
6:36it actually starts out black.
6:39There's a gene called dilution that
6:41grabs the dark pigment and scatters it
6:44more unevenly inside each hair strand.
6:48The optical result is a lighter,
6:50more matte, more washed-out color.
6:54Diluted black turns into that blue-gray.
6:57Diluted orange turns into a soft cream.
7:00It's the same mechanism, adapted, that
7:02explains entire breeds. Russian blue,
7:05blue British shorthair, Chartreux.
7:09It's not a new color. It's the original
7:11color with the genetic volume turned
7:13down.
7:14And here's the interesting part. This
7:16gene is recessive. Both parents need to
7:20carry the diluted version for a kitten
7:22to be born gray.
7:24Even if neither parent shows that color
7:26themselves.
7:27And the next cat has the weirdest gene
7:29on this whole list so far.
7:31A gene that literally reacts to the
7:33cat's own body temperature.
7:36Cat Siamese.
7:39Next time you see a Siamese,
7:41look closely.
7:43Dark ears, dark face, dark paws, dark
7:47tail.
7:48And the rest of the body
7:50way lighter. That's not a design choice.
7:52It's a temperature-sensitive mutation.
7:54The enzyme responsible for pigment only
7:57works properly in the cooler parts of
7:58the body.
8:00The extremities.
8:01Where temperature drops a few degrees.
8:05On the torso, which runs warmer, the
8:07enzyme barely does anything. So, the fur
8:09stays pale.
8:11That's exactly why Siamese kittens are
8:13born practically white. They were still
8:16warm inside mom. And gradually darken at
8:19the tips as they grow and get exposed to
8:20the environment.
8:22And here's a bonus weird fact.
8:24Colorpoint cats living in colder
8:26climates tend to darken across their
8:27whole body because more of the coat
8:29drops to a cool enough temperature to
8:31trigger the enzyme.
8:33Literally, or you The climate changes
8:35the cat's color over its lifetime. And
8:37the next type isn't about a new gene at
8:39all. It's about a white gene deciding
8:41exactly where it wants to stop. Cat
8:43bicolor. Take any color from this list
8:46so far, black, orange, gray,
8:48tortoiseshell, and throw a white gene on
8:50top. Except this time it's incomplete.
8:53That gene is called piebald, and it
8:55works almost like a mask that spreads
8:57unpredictably from the belly and chest
8:59upward. The stronger the gene expresses
9:01itself, the more white takes over the
9:03body. In extreme cases, you're left with
9:06just a tiny patch of color on the head
9:07or tail. That's the gene behind the
9:10classic white socked cat, the tuxedo cat
9:13with the white chest and black body, and
9:15even the van pattern, where the whole
9:17body is white and color only survives on
9:20the ears
9:21and the base of the tail.
9:23No two bicolor cats look exactly alike
9:26because the border between color and
9:29white gets decided almost at random
9:31during embryo development. And to close
9:33out the truly rare colors, there are two
9:35most cat owners have literally never
9:38seen in person because they depend on a
9:40genetic combo that's way harder to pull
9:42off.
9:43Cat chocolate and cinnamon.
9:45While black, orange, and gray are
9:47everyday genetics for cats, chocolate
9:50and cinnamon are the real rare
9:51exceptions. These colors come from
9:54specific mutations on the same gene that
9:56decides black. Except instead of wiping
9:59out the dark pigment completely, they
10:01alter its structure creating a deep
10:03brown chocolate or a lighter reddish
10:06brown cinnamon.
10:08The problem is these mutations are
10:10recessive and pretty uncommon in the
10:12general cat population. So, for a kitten
10:15to be born chocolate or cinnamon, both
10:17parents need to be carrying the rare
10:19version of the gene even without showing
10:21the color themselves.
10:23That's why these colors basically only
10:25show up in specific breed lines like
10:27Havana brown and a few oriental breeds.
10:29In random stray cats, the odds of that
10:31genetic combo lining up are extremely
10:33low. And after 10 cat colors, there's
10:35one question basically everyone who's
10:37ever had a different colored cat has
10:39asked themselves. Everybody's heard it.
10:41Orange cats are goofballs.
10:43Tortoiseshells have an attitude problem.
10:45Black cats are mysterious. White cats
10:48are stand-offish.
10:49And here's the point that closes out the
10:51video. There's no solid genetic study
10:53proving that coat color directly and
10:55independently determines personality.
10:58But, black cats are dealing with a
11:00different story.
11:02Bias.
11:03In US shelters, black cats consistently
11:07make up the largest share of cats coming
11:08through the door, around a third of all
11:11intake according to ASPCA data. And
11:14while overall adoption rates for black
11:16cats roughly track that share,
11:18individual shelter studies tell a
11:19rougher story.
11:21One widely cited study out of an urban
11:23Kentucky shelter found black cats had
11:25the highest euthanasia rate of any
11:27color, nearly three out of four, and the
11:30lowest adoption rate at just 10%.
11:33Shelters even have a name for it, black
11:36cat syndrome. And this bias goes way
11:38back. In medieval Europe, black cats
11:41were slaughtered en masse over
11:42witchcraft superstition. And with fewer
11:45cats around to keep the rat population
11:47down, the black death spread even faster
11:50across the continent. And while black
11:52cats deal with the myth, the global cat
11:54population just keeps climbing. The most
11:56recent estimates put somewhere between
11:58220 and 300 and 73 million pet cats
12:02worldwide. In raw numbers, nobody's got
12:05more cats than the United States,
12:07sitting at roughly 74 million. China
12:09comes in second at around 53 million,
12:12and Brazil rounds out the top three with
12:14just over 22 million. But raw numbers
12:17don't tell the whole story.
12:19Proportionally, the country with the
12:20most cat-owning households on Earth is
12:22actually Russia. 59% of Russian homes
12:25have at least one cat, the highest rate
12:27anywhere. If this kind of rabbit hole is
12:29your thing, smash that, like, subscribe,
12:32and hit the bell because there's a whole
12:34lot more of this hidden stuff waiting to
12:35get explained.

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