gingerness

[polly1]

i have just been told that it is uncommon to get ginger female cats. Does this apply to humans in the same way? i get the feeling there are more ginger lads out there compared with lassies...

[thekraut]

mioght well be if the gene for hair colour is not dominant (whats the opposite in english? recessive?) and sits on the X chromosome. but I know just about as many ginger lads as lassies (?) all I know about cat colours is that you only get female cats with three coloured fur.

[polly1]

Thanks 'thekraut'. it is good to know about three-furred cats. come to think of it any torteshell cats that i've seen are female and usually rather tubby too?!?

[wildwood]

As thekraut said, the ginger gene is carried on the X chromosome, but is recessive. Because the mutant gene is carried on the sex chromosome, it is knowm as 'sex-linked recessive'. A male carries only one X chomosome, so if that carries the ginger gene is makes the animal visually ginger. There are ginger females but in order for them to show the ginger they have to carry it on both X chromosomes - the sire would have to be ginger and the dam to at least be a ginger carrier(come from a ginger father).