A cat named Venus is one of the most famous cats on the planet.
for its unusual coat color and multi-colored eyes.
This tortoiseshell cat even has her own Facebook
, and the video with her on
YouTube
has already been watched by more than two hundred million users.
One look at this pet is enough to understand why Venus deserves such attention: one half of her muzzle is black with a yellow eye, the other is red with a blue eye.
Leslie Lyons from the University of California
, who studies the genetics of domestic cats, says that this coloring is simply a miracle of nature and that Venus is most likely the only cat with such an appearance.
The best
The Internet is simply saturated with a variety of kittens, male cats and female cats. They all differ from each other in color, size, habits, funny or tragic moments of life, they all, without exception, deserve human love and participation. And in order to stand out from this motley crowd, you actually need to have some unique feature that will mark your pet among all its fellows.
Two-faced cat
The owners of the cat named Venus showed their pet to the whole world, because she is unique due to her color - the cat has a border between two colors - black and red - exactly in the middle of its face. The popularity of the cat is explained by the posts of its owners on social networks and, undoubtedly, by the peculiarities of genetics that provided it with such an unusual appearance.
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From a genetic point of view
Scientists have tried to explain the unusualness of the two-faced Venus. This is what Leslie Lyons, a renowned feline geneticist from the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at the University of Missouri, told National Geographic magazine in 2012: “Scientists cannot yet say the exact reason why Venus was born with such an unusual color. Perhaps this is a simple coincidence and pure chance. But it could be that the X chromosome in the cells on one side of the cat's face caused the black pigmentation, while the cells on the opposite side ended up with orange pigmentation."
The New Republic magazine became interested in the question of Venus's unusual fur in 2014. In an interview with the publication, Virginia Papaioannou, a professor at Columbia University School of Medicine, said: “Venus is a representative of the felines with the so-called calico color. This is a fairly simple example of X-inactivation mosaicism, so from a genetic point of view there is nothing supernatural about the color of Venus.”
Color of Siamese cats
The unusual coloring of Siamese cats is due to the fact that the mutation responsible for the unusual coloring is very sensitive to temperatures. These cats have an enzyme known as tyrosinase
, which is responsible for the production of the dark pigment
melanin
,
can work exclusively at lower temperatures
. This explains why Siamese cats have all their limbs - paws, tail, ears, muzzle - darker in color.
Siamese kittens are known to
because their bodies are not yet exposed to colder temperatures. After birth, their paws and tails begin to gradually darken.
As they age, their overall body temperature may become lower, which is why many light-colored Siamese cats begin to darken. Here's an example. In her youth, the cat Ginko was quite light:
But as she grew older, her fur darkened:
Other opinions
But in addition to the scientific point of view on the unusual color of a cat “with two faces,” you can also hear talk that in fact this is not a cat, but a chimera - this is the name of a genetically heterogeneous organism created by the fusion of different embryos. This theory is not considered incredible by science in itself. Only DNA analysis can confirm or refute this version of the origin of the two-faced cat.
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Venus
Tortoiseshell-colored Venus has gained its share of popularity. Half of her face is black with a green eye, and the other half is red with a blue eye. Eye color depends on coat color, so the anomaly also affected eye color. It is not known for sure whether Venus is a chimera, since genetic tests have not been performed, and the color of the cat is a very possible tortoiseshell and may not be related to the mutation. However, Venus has won the attention of millions of people, and the animal has its own Facebook page. The unusual color allowed Venus to find a home, because Venus was born on a dairy farm in North Carolina, but thanks to her unusual color she was noticed and sheltered in the house.
Unusual eyes
In addition to the two-color muzzle, divided exactly down the middle into black and red halves, Venus also has one more feature - eyes of different colors. On the black half of the cat's face, the eye has a green tint, but the second eye is colored piercing blue. As geneticists say, blue or blue eyes are characteristic of cats of the Siamese breed or those with pure white coat color. Venus is a patchwork-colored cat, that is, spotted. Professor Papaioannou believes that the blue color of one eye may be a hereditary trait of one of the pure white ancestors, because Venus has a white spot on her chest and has white paws. Therefore, the professor suggested that two genes are combined in the cat - the gene for white fur and blue eyes and the gene for variegated fur, due to which the second eye is colored green. But this is just an assumption as to why Venus is such an unusually colored cat, and therefore she still remains a mystery.
Chimera cat
Experts say Venus is probably a chimera cat
. In mythology, chimeras were monsters whose appearance was a mixture of parts of different animals. A feline chimera is a cat whose cells contain two types of DNA. This happens because two embryos fuse together.
Lyons says chimeras are not that rare among cats. For example, most males with a tortoiseshell coloration are chimeras
. Here is one of them:
Such a strange coloring of the fur of males is very unusual and indicates that he has an extra X chromosome.
However, female cats already have two X chromosomes, so they often have a tortoiseshell coloration. Lyons believes that Venus in this case does not have to be a chimera for her to have such a strange appearance. To find out, it is necessary to conduct genetic studies.
If Venus is not a chimera after all, what gave it such an unusual color? Lyons says the cat was just lucky
. According to one theory, black pigmentation was simply activated in all cells on one side of the muzzle, while the other side remained red.
It’s not clear, however, where the cat got its blue eye.
. Blue eyes are common in Siamese and Angora cats, which have a lot of white. Venus has a white spot on her chest, but, according to the expert, this is not enough for the eye to become blue.
The story of the two-faced cat
Venus's story is described on her Facebook page, which was created by the cat's owners in 2012. In just a few years, she has gained more than 776,000 subscribers who follow the life of the two-faced beauty from the feline family. On this page, the owners of the cat with two faces talked about how she appeared in their family. The head of the family picked up a stray cat on a farm in North Carolina in 2009. From there she moved to her new loving family in Florida, where she still lives.
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Loving owners began to post photographs of their pet to show how extraordinarily beautiful she is. So the cat with two faces gradually began to gain likes, gaining popularity and fans around the world. Then Venus’s Instagram page and YouTube video appeared. One of the videos already has more than 3 million views. The owners of Venus generously share funny photographs and video sketches with fans of their pet about what Venus likes to do, how she sleeps with her owner Christina, steals food from large dogs living in the same family with her.
The bicolor cat Chimera is probably the most stunning anomaly ever created by nature.
Keep your eyes peeled, there's a new Two-Faced hero in front of you! This is Chimera, a gorgeous cat from Argentina whose unusual facial features have taken the internet by storm.
Perhaps her bright appearance is due to chimerism - a rare natural phenomenon in which a creature consists of genetically dissimilar cells. These cells join together to form a single organism, with two completely different DNA.
However, it may also be that the cat does not have chimerism, but mosaicism - in this case, the body contains genetically heterogeneous cells originating from the same zygote. The alternating active expression of such cells often leads to similar visual effects. Cats, and indeed all animals, are most prone to mosaicism, but we can only say for sure after DNA analysis.
Either way, she's absolutely gorgeous! Her blue eye is like some kind of gem - bright, beautiful and in sharp contrast to her other eye. The separation of shades continues towards her chest, and in the area of \u200b\u200bthe front legs, the different colored sides change places.
Chimera has collected a considerable number of Instagram followers and her profile is regularly updated. New exclusive footage from the life of an extraordinary cat constantly appears there, but she herself, of course, is unaware of her fame and the broken hearts of cat lovers around the world.
Comment Top
This is Chimera, a gorgeous cat from Argentina whose unusual facial features have captivated the online community.
instagram/gataquimera
Perhaps her bright appearance is due to chimerism - a rare natural phenomenon in which a creature consists of cells with different DNA
instagram/gataquimera
Her blue eye looks like a gem - bright, beautiful and completely opposite to her other eye.
instagram/gataquimera
The color separation continues down her chest, and in the area of her front paws the color halves are reversed.
instagram/gataquimera
She was born simply an incredible beauty and unlike anyone else!
instagram/gataquimera
instagram/gataquimera
Chimera is popular on Instagram; today she already has more than 36,000 subscribers
instagram/gataquimera
instagram/gataquimera
The profile is regularly updated, and the audience receives new exclusive footage from the life of an extraordinary cat.
instagram/gataquimera
instagram/gataquimera
But she herself, of course, is unaware of her popularity and the broken hearts of cat lovers around the world!
instagram/gataquimera
A star named Venus
If show business stars constantly have to make great efforts to attract the attention of fans, then the star life of a two-faced cat interests people around the world because of its unusualness. The owners and their pet regularly appear on various TV channels, and a limited series of toys was released as a copy of the two-faced Venus.
All the fame of the two-faced cat is used for charity - visitors to the Venus website are encouraged to make regular donations to help shelters for homeless animals.
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