Chapter 1
A Name Tag and a Striped Sweater
Look closely at the next striped cat you meet. Its face carries a secret message, and its body is dressed in a whole striped outfit. Where did all those markings come from? Let's start at the top of the head.
The Letter M
Tabby cats wear a dark letter M on their foreheads, drawn right in their fur. The M works like a name tag the cat never takes off. Striped, swirled or spotted, every tabby has one. So the M tells you the pattern, even before you see the rest of the cat.
Bracelets and Necklaces
A mackerel tabby has thin stripes down its sides, like a striped sweater. Rings circle its legs and tail like bracelets, and dark stripes cross its chest like necklaces. On some cats the lines look crisp, and on others they look a little fuzzy.
Light Hairs With Dark Bands
Now look between the dark stripes. The lighter background is made of special hairs. Each one has light and dark bands, a bit like a striped straw. These are called agouti hairs. The dark stripes grow where solid dark hairs take their place.
Brown, Silver, Red and Cream
The cat in this book is a brown tabby, but tabbies come in many colors. There are silver tabbies, red tabbies and cream tabbies, too. Think of the color as the paint and the pattern as the picture. Whatever its color, a cat with tabby markings is a tabby.
A Word Made of Silk
Long ago, the word tabby named a silk cloth with stripes or waves in it. The cloth was first made in one part of the city of Baghdad. Later, people borrowed the word for cats with striped or wavy coats. Some people use tabby to mean a girl cat. But the word really names a coat pattern, and boy cats wear it too.
Chapter 2
One Gene, Big Swirls
What if you could redraw a cat's whole coat by changing one tiny instruction? Nature has done exactly that. The thin stripes spread out into giant swirls. Meet the classic tabby.
Stripes Into Swirls
Change just one gene, and a tabby cat's thin stripes turn into big swirls. On each side of the cat sits a large dark blotch circled by rings, like a bullseye. This swirly cat is called a classic tabby, or a blotched tabby.
The Taqpep Gene
A gene is like one instruction in the recipe for a cat. Scientists found the gene that decides between stripes and swirls. It is called Taqpep. A cat with a working copy grows thin mackerel stripes. When a change switches the gene off, the narrow stripes spread into wide swirls.
Stripes Came First
You might guess that the classic tabby is the oldest pattern. It is not! The first tabbies were all mackerel-striped. Swirls showed up much later, in the Middle Ages. Pictures of tabby cats from that time mostly show stripes.
Spots, Ticks and Patches
A spotted tabby has spots along its body instead of long stripes. The Egyptian Mau and the Ocicat are spotted breeds. A ticked tabby has banded hairs all over, so its body looks evenly speckled. Its markings show mostly on its face, legs and tail. The Abyssinian is a ticked breed.
Chapter 3
Wild Cousins
Far from any living room, a big cat stands in the African grass. Its spots look smeared into stripes and blotches. This rare cat is a king cheetah. And the gene that swirls a tabby is at work in its coat, too.
The King Cheetah
The king cheetah is a rare cheetah with an amazing coat. Its spots join into big blotches, with dark stripes along its back. The very gene that gives a classic tabby its swirls also gives the king cheetah this coat. Wild king cheetahs have been seen in only one small part of Africa.
A Wild Ancestor
Every pet cat comes from wildcats. The wildcats that became house cats lived in the Near East, probably near early farming villages. Those wildcats wore a striped coat a lot like a mackerel tabby's. That is why scientists say stripes are the original cat outfit.
Wildcat or House Cat?
Some house cats live wild, without a home, and are called feral cats. A striped feral cat can look so much like a wildcat that people cannot tell them apart by sight. So scientists use DNA tests to find out which cat is which.
Hidden Stripes
Even a black cat has a pattern under its dark coat. Some black cats can show faint ghost stripes, mostly while they are young. As they grow up, the stripes fade into the dark fur. On a sunny day, though, hidden stripes may peek through.
Chapter 4
A Stripe Map Before Birth
A newborn tabby kitten is tiny and fuzzy, yet its stripes are already in place. When were they drawn? The answer is long before the kitten was born.
A Map in the Skin
A tabby kitten's stripe pattern is laid out in its skin before it is born. Even before a single hair has grown, the skin has thick and thin zones. The thick zones mark where dark fur will grow later. It is like a map drawn before the town is built.
Dark Hair, Light Hair
How does a hair know to grow dark? Each hair grows from a tiny pocket in the skin called a follicle. Follicles in the dark stripes make more of a signal called Edn3. More Edn3 means dark hair, and less Edn3 means lighter, yellowish hair.
Stripes That Stretch
As a tabby kitten grows, its stripes get bigger, but it does not gain new ones. Think of a drawing on a balloon. As you blow the balloon up, the drawing stretches. In the same way, every stripe the kitten was born with simply grows along with its body.
A Purring Family
Kittens can purr while they nurse, and mother cats purr while feeding them. Grown cats can purr when they are content. But cats can also purr when they are stressed or hurt. So a purr does not always mean a cat is happy.
Chapter 5
Living With a Tabby
Imagine a striped cat strolling into your room. Should you rush over to say hi? Not so fast! The best way to make a cat friend may surprise you.
Play Like a Hunter
Toy play can let a cat chase, pounce and catch, just as it would when hunting. Drag a toy along the floor like a running mouse. In the end, let the cat win. No real mouse needed!
High Places, Hiding Places
A high perch can let a cat watch everything around it. A cat can also hide in a safe place when it feels scared. A box on its side or a familiar carrier can make a cozy den. Loud, unfamiliar sounds can frighten a cat, so quiet voices help.
Cat Hellos
A cat can rub its face against you to leave its scent. That rub shows it knows you. Scientists tested slow blinks, too. Cats in the study narrowed their eyes more after people slow-blinked at them. They were also more likely to walk up to a stranger who slow-blinked.
Let the Cat Choose
Some tabbies love cuddles and some like more space. Every cat is different. So sit quietly nearby, low and still, and let the cat choose to come to you. A cat that walks over on its own is saying hello in its own way.
Tabby Cat Quiz
What letter can you find on every tabby's forehead?
Show the answer
A dark letter M.
Where does a mackerel tabby wear bracelets and necklaces?
Show the answer
Rings circle its legs and tail, and stripes cross its chest.
What turns thin stripes into big swirls?
Show the answer
A change in one gene, called Taqpep.
Which wild cat shares that swirl gene?
Show the answer
The rare king cheetah.
When is a tabby's stripe pattern laid out?
Show the answer
In its skin, before it is born and before any hair grows.
How should you say hello to a cat?
Show the answer
Sit quietly nearby and let the cat choose to come to you.
Glossary
- agouti hair
- A hair with light and dark bands. Agouti hairs make a tabby's lighter background.
- classic tabby
- A tabby with big swirls and a bullseye on each side, also called a blotched tabby.
- follicle
- The tiny pocket in the skin that a hair grows from.
- gene
- An instruction a cat gets from its parents, one copy from each.
- king cheetah
- A rare cheetah whose spots join into blotches and stripes.
- mackerel tabby
- A tabby with thin stripes down its sides and rings on its legs and tail.
- torbie
- A patched tabby, with tabby markings and patches of red or cream. Most are female.
- wildcat
- The wild cat that house cats come from. Its coat is striped.
How We Know
Every fact here comes from a published source.