These stripes can be continuous or broken into bars and short segments/spots, especially on the flanks and stomach. The mackerel, or striped, tabby pattern is made up of thin vertical, gently curving stripes on the sides of the body. Patterns Typical tabby patterns in the head region: An 'M' on the forehead, bright eye rims and borders of the ears The notion that tabby indicates a female cat may be due to the feminine proper name Tabby as a nickname of " Tabitha". Use of the term tabby cat for a cat with a striped coat began in the 1690s and was shortened to tabby in 1774. Such silk cloth became popular in the Muslim world and spread to England, where the word "tabby" became commonly used in the 17th and 18th centuries. This word is a reference to the Attabiya district of Baghdad, noted for its striped cloth and silk itself named after the Umayyad Governor of Mecca Attab ibn Asid. This can be further traced to the Middle French atabis (14th century), which stemmed from the Arabic term عتابية / ʿattābiyya. The English term tabby originally referred to "striped silk taffeta", from the French word tabis, meaning "a rich watered silk". Etymology A 19th-century drawing of a tabby cat ![]() One genetic study of domestic cats found at least five founders. The tabby pattern occurs naturally and is connected both to the coat of the domestic cat's direct ancestor and to those of their close relatives: the African wildcat ( Felis lybica lybica), the European wildcat ( Felis silvestris) and the Asiatic wildcat ( Felis lybica ornata), all of which have similar coats, both by pattern and coloration. "Tabby" is not a breed of cat, but a coat pattern found in many official cat breeds, and is very common among the general population of mixed-breed cats around the world. It is thought that the tabby pattern originates from the numerous related species of wildcat.Ī tabby cat, or simply tabby, is any domestic cat ( Felis catus) with a distinctive M-shaped marking on its forehead stripes by its eyes and across its cheeks, along its back, and around its legs and tail and characteristic striped, dotted, lined, flecked, banded, or swirled patterns on the body-neck, shoulders, sides, flanks, chest, and abdomen. Mackerel tabby, with the distinctive striped pattern and forehead 'M' A European wildcat ( Felis silvestris) bearing a similar coat pattern to that of a tabby cat. For other uses, see Tabby (disambiguation). Although if you try telling the cat that, it will probably just look at you quizzically before sauntering away."Tabby" redirects here. So, the next time you see a kitty wearing white socks, you'll know that this signature feature is a result of genetic mutations, domestication and developmental biology. Felines develop white feet, faces, chests and bellies when these cells don't quite make it all the way. ![]() If those waves of cells move far enough to meet each other on the cat's front side, the embryo will be born a solid-colored kitten, such as an all-black or all-orange cat. Then, those cells slowly migrate down and around the body. The cells that give cat fur its color first appear as neural crest cells, which are located along what will become the back, Lyons said. These distinctive fur colors and markings emerge while a cat embryo is developing. It's true of horses, pigs, mice, cows and rats. Behavioral traits seem unrelated to coat color, but for reasons that scientists don't fully understand, white spots tend to appear when the tamest individuals are selected and bred. Humans probably also selected for cats who were calm and comfortable around humans, Lyons said. Let's make sure it survives,'" Lyons said. "There were probably people saying, 'I particularly like that kitten because it has white feet. When humans started taking an interest in cats, these white paws would have stood out to them, too. In its native mixed forest or scrub desert environment, a cat with stark white paws would have stood out to predators and prey. There isn't much evidence to indicate why early cat people chose the individuals they did, but Lyons said the range of coats seen on modern domestic cats shows that our agrarian ancestors favored cats with markings that would have interfered with their camouflage.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |