Orange You Glad We Finally Figured Out Why Some Cats Are Ginger

Scientists have finally solved the greatest feline mystery of our time: Why is it, exactly, that some cats are orange? Two separate research teams have detailed the answer in two studies published Thursday in the journal Current Biology. They’ve identified the precise genetic mutation in these cats that explains their orangeness—a mutation not seen in other animals with similar coloration. Orange-furred cats are often referred to as gingers. And according to Chris Kaelin, lead author of one of the new studies, the same basic mechanism underlying red hair in humans applies to orange cats, too: their pigment cells switch from making eumelanin pigment (brown/black) to making pheomelanin pigment (red/orange). But scientists have known for a while that the genetic cause of orangeness in cats is very different from the one in humans and other mammals. “What motivated us to study orange cats is that the trait is sex-linked (the mutation and the affected gene are on the X chromosome) and se ... Read full article.