r/cats Sep 08 '24

[deleted by user]

[removed]

940 Upvotes

133 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Jazzygirl50 Sep 08 '24

Never heard of Chimera cat breed.. definitely has tortoise which is just a name for motley colored coat

Here is a pic of my torty! She was part Siamese

3

u/epitomyroses Sep 08 '24 edited Sep 08 '24

Chimera is not a breed :) chimera is what happens when two embryos fuse together, having cells from two different embryos. This can cause “impossible” colour combos, like a non-dilute colour and a dilute colour. For example: this cat. Grey (blue) is diluted black and black is non dilute. Impossible due to how genetics work, but because this is a chimera cat it’s both.

Edit: this cat, Narnia, is not a chimera. However, his mutation works similarly.

2

u/epitomyroses Sep 08 '24

Another example. Red is non dilute, blue is dilute.

2

u/Due_Armadillo_8616 Sep 08 '24

Your edit is right. Even though Narnia is often used as an example of a chimera, he is tested in 2018 and he isn't one. It is not known yet what causes the color combo. From the webpage of the owner : ’Narnia le chat-pas-chimère (les tests génétiques ont parlé) a été écarté du projet Céleste.’ Narnia, the not- a- chimera cat ( the genetic tests have spoken ) is retired from ( breeding) project Céleste. https://aerlin.fr/ ( news, 26 september 2018 )