Calico: It's a female......because a male cat only has one x-chromosome, so he can inherit either the orange gene- in which case he will be an orange tabby - or the normal gene, but never both. So, true to folklore, no male can be a calico.
What is a calico? A tortoise-shell cat that also has white spots is called a calico. The most prized calico cats, also have the non-agouti gene, so their coats have splotches of white, orange and black.
Siamese: The unusual color pattern of Siamese cats, prized by breeders but rare on the street, is caused by an unusual gene mutation.
Nature has painted Siamese and other "color point" cats with a white or fawn brush, leaving colors to show through only on their extremities. That's because Siamese have a mutation that prevents cells from producing pigment at the cat's body temperature, 100 degrees. But the head, paws and tip of the tail are several degrees cooler, cool enough for melanin to be made. At these "points," as they are called, the cat shows its true colors.
Polydactyl: A mutant gene called "polydactyl" gives a cat more toes than the normal five - as many as eight on each foot. Although the gene is rare in most of the world, 15 percent of the cats in Boston have extra toes.
It is believed that the first polydactyl cat probably occurred in North Kent, England more than 350 years ago. the mutation never made great inroads into the already large English cat population. But there must have been a polydactyl cat, maybe a pregnant one, on the fleet of ships that left Kent to colonize Boston in 1630. There were no cats in America, so that cat and its kittens were among the founders of Boston's cat colony. Today, whereever you find a many-toed cat, chances are its ancestors came from Boston.
The polydactyl's path has been traced from Boston to the towns of Yarmouth and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Settled and supplied by ships from Boston, these towns have many polydactyle cats, while near by towns, colonized by settlers from New York, have none.
The polydactyl trail may even extend to Africa says cat geneticist Neil Todd. After the American revolution, black slaves who had fought with the Loyalists in exchange for their freedom were sent to Nova Scotia before final resettlement in Sierra Leone, Africa. Fifteen ships left Halifax for Sierra Leone in 1792, and Todd is convinced that polydactyl cats must have gone with them.
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