Pictures of orange boys and girls, with and without the cell.
TLDR: They are mutants just like Jean Grey in the X-people. Their superpower is being able to ignore their name being called from 2 feet away.
Ok now why are they dumb as a box of rocks?
Too much effort placed into handsomeness, no time left for brains.
Cool. On a related topic, I picked up a stray light orange cat on my first walk of 2025 and they turned out to be female! Won the cat lottery!
20% is pretty common. I have one, my friend has two.
I have six orange girls. Probably the largest collection on the East coast that isn't a shelter or rescue.
Pics or it didn't happen
Clockwise 11:30 Charlie 1:00 Topaz 3:00 Papita 4:00 Tasselhoff 6:00 Lucy 9:00 Ellie
Charlie, Tasselhoff and Papita are also bobtails. So bonus rareness.
You've struck gold!
We foster a lot of cats and and I had had orange girl on my list for a long long time. And then one day someone called me because in an area I was doing tnr my mom dropped off three babies on a porch. All three were girls. I caught the mom who was also orange. And then we picked up two more within a few months.
I went from years without a single orange girl showing up to a flood of them to a flood of them. I was only going to keep two but my wife made me keep all of them.
I guess she's a keeper.
I just started an audio book that I think you might enjoy as it co-star a couple of orange kittys: Starter Villain.
Marigold the elusive orange female says hello!
Except we already knew this, it's basically genetics.
AI generated summary:
Orange cats are known for their energetic and mischievous nature, with a cultural belief in Italy that they are often leaders. This reputation is linked to the fact that most orange cats are male, a phenomenon explained by recent genetic research. Two independent scientific teams discovered that a mutation on the X chromosome is responsible for the orange coat color in domesticated cats.
Male cats have one X chromosome, while females have two, which accounts for the mixed coloration seen in female
tortoiseshell and calico cats. Unlike other mammals, where mutations in the Mc1r gene lead to red fur, cats have a different genetic mechanism. The gene Arhgap36, located on the X chromosome, was identified as the source of the orange coloration, resulting in a significant increase in RNA production. This finding sheds light on the unique genetic basis for orange fur in cats, making them a "genetic unicorn" among felines.
That's interesting! Thank you