A new colour of cat has been discovered

[littlemissmartypants]

This article is almost two years old.


A salty liquorice cat with black hairs that fade to white looks at the camera.
Photo credit: Ari Kankainen

After years of research, a Finnish team of researchers have finally worked out what’s behind the colouring of ‘salty liquorice’ cats.


By Noa Leach
Published: May 30, 2024 at 11:51 am

A rare new colour of cat known as ‘salty liquorice’ has been discovered by researchers in Finland.

Cats with the unusual coat – known as ‘salmiak cats’ (which translates as ‘salty liquorice’)– are black with flecks of white. Elsewhere on their bodies, salmiak cats wear a ‘tuxedo’ pattern: a solid white neck, chest, belly and paws.

The unusual pattern of the new coat is caused by the colour of each hair changing from root to tip – starting out black near the cats’ skin then fading to white. And, as scientists recently discovered, that’s a huge deal genetically.

That’s because cats typically come in two colours: black and orange. If you think you’ve seen any others, that’s probably because all feline coats involve some degree of these two colours fading, being combined, or both.
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https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/salty-liquorice-cat

[3catwoman3]

1. Beautiful kitty!

[2naSalit]

2. How interesting!

And pretty.

[AZJonnie]

3. That's clearly a new coat pattern not a new color

Y'all know how I am, sorry

Very cool looking though!

Did remind me though about one of my beloved feral girls, a Tuxie I named Mittens, disappeared 1 month ago after I'd seen her every day for like 2 years. I'd trapped and fixed her and everything.

[3catwoman3]

5. You are quite correct. I was expecting something quite startling like...

…pink or green.

[SWBTATTReg]

4. Neat! I wonder what environment caused them to develop this genetic trait?

[zanana1]

6. So cute!

I don't care what caused it. It's adorable. (But if you do find out, please let us know).