Calico Cats - Tricolor Beauties

Calico cats are very easy to spot. Their colorful coatXY while female cats have a set of XX, so most
of three colors is hard to miss.  Some people believecalicos happen to be female. Though rare, you will
that calico is a cat breed. Others think it is a color.find male calicos, which for the most part  happen
However, calico refers to a unique tricolor pattern. Ato be sterile.
nondiluted calico has mostly white, which is theInterestingly, many people confuse calicos with
predominant color, with distinct patches of orange (ortortoiseshell cats. At first glance, they may look
red) and black. Some cats will have chocolate insteadsimilar, but upon closer examination they're quite
of black, but this is quite rare.different. The main difference being that tortoiseshell
By contrast, a diluted calico will have a coat of white,cats have very little or no white fur. Some people
cream, blue (sort of like a bluish gray) or cinnamon.confuse the two because some tortoiseshells display
The washed out colors are caused by the dilutionmore white hair than usual, but this hair is mostly
gene.mixed in with the other colors. By the way, the two
But what causes this unique pattern? It's all aboutother colors are also blended. Calicos, on the other
genetics. More specifically, the answer lies in thehand, have three distinct patches of color, white
chromosome X, which contains the code responsiblebeing the most prominent.
for fur coloring in cats. The Y chromosome, byAnother interesting fact is that not all tricolor cats are
contrast, contains no information associated withcalico cats, some cat breeds like the Himalayan and
color. Now, a set of two X chromosomes areJavanase have coats with tricolor points but these
required to produce a calico. Male cats have a set ofare not considered to be true calicos.