These colorful, small-patterned printed fabrics gave rise to the use of the word calico to describe a cat coat of tri-color "calico" as an adjective being synonymous to "mottled" or "resembling printed calico". While Europe maintained the word calico for the fabric, in the US it was used to refer to the printed design or pattern. Printed calico was imported into the United States from Lancashire, England, in the 1780s, and a linguistic separation occurred there. The fabric called " calico" was originally from the city of Calicut in southwestern India. Calico cats were chosen as the state cat because their white, black, and orange coloring is in harmony with the coloring of the Baltimore oriole (the state bird) and the Baltimore checkerspot butterfly (the state insect). The calico has been Maryland's state cat since 1 October 2001. The proportion of cats having the orange mutant gene found in calicoes was traced to the port cities along the Mediterranean in Greece, France, Spain, and Italy, originating from Egypt. However, the existence of patches in calico cats was traced to a certain degree by Neil Todd in a study determining the migration of domesticated cats along trade routes in Europe and Northern Africa. The tri-color coat characteristic of calico cats does not define any breed, but occurs incidentally in cats who express a range of color patterns accordingly, the effect has no definitive historical background. Dilutes are distinguished by having grey (known as blue), cream, and gold colors instead of the typical colors along with the white. Some calico cats, called "dilute calicoes", may be lighter in color overall. Male calicoes can happen when a male cat has two X chromosomes ( Klinefelter syndrome, with XXY sex chromosomes and generally they are sterile) the condition is a chimera, with two different cell types or, rarely, when some skin cells of the developing kitten spontaneously mutate. In most cases, males are only one color (for instance, black) as they have only one X chromosome. Formal standards set by professional and show animal breeders limit the breeds among which they permit registration of cats with calico coloration those breeds are the Manx cat, American Shorthair, Maine Coon, British Shorthair, Persian cat, Arabian Mau, Japanese Bobtail, Exotic Shorthair, Siberian, Turkish Van, Turkish Angora, and the Norwegian Forest cat.īecause the genetic determination of coat colors in calico cats is linked to the X chromosome, calicoes are nearly always female, with one color linked to the maternal X chromosome and a second color linked to the paternal X chromosome. This calico-patched tabby may be referred to as caliby or torbico.ĭerived from a colorful printed Calico fabric, when the term "calico" is applied to cats, it refers only to a color pattern of the fur, not to a cat breed or any reference to any other traits, such as their eyes. Occasionally, the tri-color calico coloration is combined with a tabby patterning, called tortoiseshell tabby with white. Calicoes with diluted coloration (blue tortoiseshell and white) have been called calimanco or clouded tiger. However, outside North America, the calico pattern is more commonly called tortoiseshell and white. Calicoes are almost exclusively female except under rare genetic conditions.Ī calico cat is not to be confused with a tortoiseshell, who has a black undercoat and a mostly mottled coat of black/red or blue/cream with relatively few to no white markings. The calico cat is most commonly thought of as being 25% to 75% white with large orange and black patches however, they may have other colors in their patterns. A calico cat Calico cat with diluted coloration Calico cat with tabby markingsĪ calico cat ( US English) is a domestic cat of any breed with a tri-color coat.
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