Читать книгу The Cat Owners Handbook - Graham Meadows - Страница 12

Some of the coat colours and patterns in domestic cats are thought to be very old, as they have had time to spread all over the world. They include black, blue (a slate-grey colour which is a ‘dilute’ form of black) and orange (ginger). The Siamese and Burmese colour patterns, on the other hand, are more recent and originated in southeast Asia – they were preserved and spread because of human interest.

Most, but not all, ginger cats are male. The coat colour is a sex-linked gene.

Blue eyes are the most striking feature of the Siamese cat.

Some colour patterns spread of their own accord. For example, some hundreds of years ago in Britain the blotched tabby appears to have arisen as a mutation of the striped tabby. For reasons yet to be fully explained, it appears that the blotched tabby and black cat are better able to thrive in a high-density urban environment, and in some areas (especially in England) these colours are becoming predominant among alley cats and non-pedigree domestic cats.

Cats are remarkably agile, and are powerful and accurate jumpers.