Are Orange Cats Usually Male Or Female

80 percent Did you know orange tabby cats are typically male.

Are orange cats usually male or female. Most orange cats are male and most calicos are female. It is on the X chromosome. A male cat needs only one orange gene which he gets from his.

The gene that causes this type of orange coloration of the coat is only found on the X chromosome the female. We have many female orange tabby cats in my practice. Since females have two Xs and males have one X and one Y this means that a female orange cat must inherit two orange genes one from each parent whereas a male only needs one which he gets from his mother.

In fact up to 80 percent of orange tabbies are male making orange female cats a bit of a rarity. According to the BBCs Focus Magazine the ginger gene in cats works a little differently compared to humans. As you may recall from high school biology mammals have two chromosomes that determine their sexXX for females and XY for males.

Since females have two Xs and males have one X and one Y this means that a female orange cat must inherit two orange genes-one from each parent-whereas a male only needs one which he gets from his mother. The average life expectancy of orange tabby cats are 10-16 years. Well thats not entirely true.

The gene responsible for the orange color is sex-linked resulting in a much higher likelihood that an orange cat will be male versus female. Photography by Casey Elise Photography. To have black and orange in the same cat the cat needs two X chromosomes.

Orange cats are usually male. The gene that codes for orange fur is on the X chromosome. While it is a fact that there is a higher ratio of orange tabbies that are male the exact percentage is actually about 80 percent toms to 20 percent queens.