Why are Calico cats only female?

Question

Calico cats are orange, black and white?

Answer 1

okay I will try to explain it simply. Rudra even confused me..and I know the explanation!! The gene for the color orange and black are both located on the X chromosome. Since females are XX, they can have the "orange gene" on one chromosome and the "black gene" on the other. Males are XY...so can only have EITHER the "orange gene" OR the "black gene", since they only have one X chromosome. Sometimes there are male calicos (orange, black and white cats) or tortoise shells (orange and black cats) but it is rare because in order to get these colors in a male a mutation would have to occur. These males are basically mutants that posses an extra X chromosome...they would be an XXY male.

Answer 2

I have owned a male calico. It is an old wives tail/myth. I breed small animals like guinea pigs, mice, rats & rabbits.
The same is true for them. The occurance is infrequent though.

Answer 3

you can have male calicos...if you ever come across one, he's worth A LOT of money to some people.

Answer 4

I don't have a detailed answer for you, but it is because they are scientific anomalies caused by a specific combination of genes exclusive to female cats.

Answer 5

actually this combination of colour can only be expressed in females because this gene resides in X chromosomes...
as we know all females are mosaics , as they receive 1X frm mom and 1X frm dad.....now due to the process of DOSAGE COMPENSATION...1X gets inactivated (Lyon's Hypothesis)....this inactivation is random and occurs after the zygote has started dividing....So what happens?
Some cells have dad's X inactivated and some has mom's, now all the progeny cells follow this pattern...so the genes in one of the two X expressed....producing different patches of colours

in male u wont find this coz they only have 1 X that is activated in all cells

Answer 6

They're not only female. There are males too. It's just more common in females.