Question by : Me, just curious - "Is it true that when a cat gave birth a tri-colored male, the parents will eat it?"
A dog once said "This person is so kind to me and feed me, he must be a God"
but a cat said "This person is so kind to me and feed me, I must be a God"
It's a lil bit interesting tonight, I ran across some news about a person saw his cat eat its newborn male kitten, just because it has 3 color. The question is why?is it a myth?a beliefs?or there are actually a logical explanation to these phenomenon?
Not just that, i've found out too, that a male tri-colored kitten, alive, are actually expensive. Any idea how much?30 - 100 millions IDR. Some said it can bring good luck to the owner, but believe it or not, it's up to you to decide after read what i've found.
Oh yeah, in this case, we're not talking about breed cat, just a stray cat, or general cat.
So, i've found the answer, 3 type of answers, mythically, medically, and rationally.
First, Mythically.
In Javanese beliefs, male tri-colored cat called "Kucing Telon". Usually, tri-colored cat is a female, rarely or close to none male. Javanese beliefs said that the parents will eat the male tri-colored kitten, because it was meant to prevent the kitten grow bigger and become a leader of the cat, grow a horn (yes, horn!) and then eat its own parents (hey, i'm not made that up, it's an old belief).
The ancestors once said that if you have a male tri-colored cat in your house, it'll repel bad things and bring wealth to you, it also have some kinds of mystical power. Maybe this is the explanation why this male tri-colored cat is expensive.
Here's a fun fact : Have you ever known about "good luck charm" cat that always waving?apparently, it was made based on this story
Second, Medically.
First off, a tri colored cat is called "Calico" cat in medical term. A calico cat is not a breed of cat, it is a color pattern. To be called "calico", three colors must be present: black, white and orange (or in Indonesian, they said it was yellow). Variations of these colors include gray, cream and ginger. A "true" calico cat has large blocks of these three colors. The interesting part is, Calico cat nearly as always FEMALE, not a male.
Not just that, i've found out too, that a male tri-colored kitten, alive, are actually expensive. Any idea how much?30 - 100 millions IDR. Some said it can bring good luck to the owner, but believe it or not, it's up to you to decide after read what i've found.
Oh yeah, in this case, we're not talking about breed cat, just a stray cat, or general cat.
So, i've found the answer, 3 type of answers, mythically, medically, and rationally.
First, Mythically.
In Javanese beliefs, male tri-colored cat called "Kucing Telon". Usually, tri-colored cat is a female, rarely or close to none male. Javanese beliefs said that the parents will eat the male tri-colored kitten, because it was meant to prevent the kitten grow bigger and become a leader of the cat, grow a horn (yes, horn!) and then eat its own parents (hey, i'm not made that up, it's an old belief).
The ancestors once said that if you have a male tri-colored cat in your house, it'll repel bad things and bring wealth to you, it also have some kinds of mystical power. Maybe this is the explanation why this male tri-colored cat is expensive.
Here's a fun fact : Have you ever known about "good luck charm" cat that always waving?apparently, it was made based on this story
Second, Medically.
First off, a tri colored cat is called "Calico" cat in medical term. A calico cat is not a breed of cat, it is a color pattern. To be called "calico", three colors must be present: black, white and orange (or in Indonesian, they said it was yellow). Variations of these colors include gray, cream and ginger. A "true" calico cat has large blocks of these three colors. The interesting part is, Calico cat nearly as always FEMALE, not a male.
This is what Calico Cat looks like...
Now that a calico cat has been defined as a cat with three colors, the question is: why are they nearly always female? The answer is in genetics. Coat color in cats is a sex-linked trait, a physical characteristic related to its gender. Female animals have two X chromosomes (XX), males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome (XY). The genetic code for displaying black or orange color is found on the X chromosome. The coding for white is a completely separate gene.
Since females have two X chromosomes, they are able to show two colors (orange and black, or variations thereof) and white; creating the 3-color calico mix. Since males have only one X chromosome, they can only be orange OR black. It is more complicated than simply having the color genes.
Can a calico cat ever be male?in rare cases, yes. In this situation, the cat has two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome (XXY). Cats with this chromosomal configuration are usually unstable and not able to breed. This is similar to a condition in humans called Klinefelter's syndrome, or XXY Syndrome. To give you a picture how rare this case, based on research, 1 out of 3000 calico cats is male. and only 1 out of 10000 male calico cats is able to breed.
Third, Rationally.
Actually, this is also could be considered right answer about why the parents will eat their male tri-colored kitten. They did it on purpose, forced by nature fact that the male calico usually born unstable, caused by over-amount of chromosoms, and that made the kitten had an abnormal hormon condition that made it unable to breed. The parents didn't want this condition contaminate the other newborn kittens. It just natural, in fact, rats also have this "cannibalism tradition".
Maybe that's what we called an "Animal Instict"...
So why don't you check your cat at home? :p
Satisfied? :)
Since females have two X chromosomes, they are able to show two colors (orange and black, or variations thereof) and white; creating the 3-color calico mix. Since males have only one X chromosome, they can only be orange OR black. It is more complicated than simply having the color genes.
Can a calico cat ever be male?in rare cases, yes. In this situation, the cat has two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome (XXY). Cats with this chromosomal configuration are usually unstable and not able to breed. This is similar to a condition in humans called Klinefelter's syndrome, or XXY Syndrome. To give you a picture how rare this case, based on research, 1 out of 3000 calico cats is male. and only 1 out of 10000 male calico cats is able to breed.
Third, Rationally.
Actually, this is also could be considered right answer about why the parents will eat their male tri-colored kitten. They did it on purpose, forced by nature fact that the male calico usually born unstable, caused by over-amount of chromosoms, and that made the kitten had an abnormal hormon condition that made it unable to breed. The parents didn't want this condition contaminate the other newborn kittens. It just natural, in fact, rats also have this "cannibalism tradition".
Maybe that's what we called an "Animal Instict"...
So why don't you check your cat at home? :p
Satisfied? :)
1 comments:
hmm.. but i think maneki neko is a different story from this calico tale dude. It's believed to bring luck, wealth, money, customer, or whatever it is based on its pose (or movement, if it's not a statue); not the color.. :)
anyway, i didn't know that a calico male is really a pooor thing. hahahaha
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