If the orange color is sex regulated, how does it also appear on the females?
In: Biology
Cats have a gene on the X chromosome that determines whether their fur contains dark or light pigment. There are two possible versions of this gene: one which causes dark color (brown or black), and one which causes light color (usually orangish).
Male cats only have one X chromosome, so they can only have one option. They’re either dark or orange. The Y chromosome simply doesn’t have this gene at all.
Female cats have two X chromosomes. If both of those chromosomes have the same version, the cat will be fully that color; but if she has one copy of each she will have patches of both colors.
Very very rarely (~1 in 3000 odds), a male cat can be born with both dark and orange patches. This can be caused by several things, but it requires some sort of genetic abnormality to happen.
[Here’s an entire Wikipedia article about cat coat genetics if you’re curious.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_coat_genetics) There are many more genes that affect their coat- things like stripe pattern, whether the dark patches are brown or black, and the presence of white fur patches are determined by other genes.
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