Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-44289441-20191204102040/@comment-32823535-20191206042705

Actually, they are not recessive genes. The genes are orange color or black color (or could be grey and peach). The reason only females are calico or tortoiseshell is because those genes are found on the X chromosome, so male cats always only get one color (also, most orange cats are males). The way the genes work in the female cats is that at a certain point in development, one color "turns on" and the other color "turns off" This is why there are patches, and why if you look closely, you can often distinguish a line down the center of the cat, since the two sides develop independently. (Can you tell I am fascinated by genetics?)