Colorful Tortoiseshell Cat

A colorful portrait of a tortoiseshell cat named Itty Bitty with vibrant rainbow colors. Torties are super colorful cats already, but this portrait... more

by Rebecca Wang

Title

Colorful Tortoiseshell Cat

Artist

Rebecca Wang

Medium

Painting - Acrylics

Description

A colorful portrait of a tortoiseshell cat named "Itty Bitty" with vibrant rainbow colors. Torties are super colorful cats already, but this portrait makes her even more colorful! The "brown" areas of her portrait are created with orange, red and magenta, the "black" areas are painted with blues and purples. The background is a tie-dye inspired rainbow color.

Tortoiseshell cat are sometimes called calico or tricolor cats. They are not a breed but a coat color variation, and have brindled patches of orange and black. Torties that have distinct tabby markings are called "torbies". Tortoiseshell cats and calico cats are always female. This is due to the fact that the genes for orange coat color and black coat color are carried by the X chromosomes, one color on each chromosome. Since a female cat has XX chromosomes, one X can be black and one X can be orange. Males have XY chromosomes, so they can only have either black or orange. In a rare genetic condition known as Klinefelter syndrome, a male has XXY chromosomes, and thus can appear to be calico, but because of the genetic disorder they are always sterile. This is an extremely rare condition.


Artwork Copyright © Rebecca Wang, https://www.psychedeliczen.com, All Rights Reserved.

Uploaded

November 10th, 2019