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Inverse
Inverse
Science
Lluís Montoliu, and ,The Conversation

Geneticists Have Finally Figured Out How Orange Cats Got Their Color

nomadnes/Moment/Getty Images

Garfield, star of the eponymous comic strip created by Jim Davis in 1978, is, like many of the cats that roam our homes, orange. He is orange in the same way that some people are redheaded, some horses are brown, or some dogs are Irish setters, but there is one important difference.

For all other animals, including redheaded humans, we know what causes this characteristic color, but surprisingly, we didn’t know what causes it in cats — and felines in general — until now.

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