Carrion Luggage

Purrsuit of Knowledge

Today, I show that the BBC tackles the most important questions of our time, making them accessible to curious readers of English everywhere.

    Decades-long mystery of ginger cats revealed  

What mystery is that? Do they have souls? Do they have brains? Why are they so damn cute?

(Article includes pictures of cute kitties.)

Garfield, Puss in Boots, Aristocats' Toulouse – cultural icons maybe, ginger most certainly.

Also fictional. You make cartoon cats orange because the color pops.

And now scientists across two continents have uncovered the DNA mystery that has given our furry friends, particularly males, their notable colour.

While it's good for cats to maintain a bit of mystery, it's also good to learn more about how DNA works. I just hope their curiosity didn't kill any cats.

They discovered that ginger cats are missing a section of their genetic code, which means the cells responsible for their skin, eye and fur tone produce lighter colours.

Gingers have a reputation for appearing to be brainless, or at least not as clever as other kitties. I guess it turns out they are missing something.

The breakthrough has brought delight to the scientists but also the thousands of cat lovers that originally crowdfunded the research.

I'm including this paragraph before anyone gets too outraged about who's paying for it.

For decades scientists have observed that cats with completely ginger colouring are far more likely to be male. This tallies with the fact that the gene is carried on the X chromosome.

And we've also known that calicos (who usually have some ginger patches) are far more likely to be female.

The ARHGAP36 gene is also active in many other areas of the body including the brain and hormonal glands, and is considered important for development.

The researchers think it is possible that the DNA mutation in the gene could cause other changes in these parts of the body linked to health conditions or temperament.

Huh... so maybe the correlation in cats between being ginger and certain personality traits isn't completely off-base.

"Many cat owners swear by the idea that different coat colours and patterns are linked with different personalities," said Prof Sasaki.

"There's no scientific evidence for this yet, but it's an intriguing idea and one I'd love to explore further."

Well, leaving aside for the moment that cats don't have "owners," it would be an interesting line of study. Though I'd think that coming up with objective standards for behavior (or behaviour for British cats) is much trickier than assessing the color (or colour) of their fur. Especially when you'd also need to control for nurture / nature causes.

But whatever the science, there's no denying that they're good kitties who deserve treats.