#himalayan gene

[mau-mao]

Favorite Cat Coat Pattern

The tortoiseshell point Siamese!

Did you know? Siamese cats have a genetic mutation called the Himalayan gene, which produces temperature-sensitive pigment. Darker sections are due to cooler temps. and lighter sections are due to warmer temps.

Their coats can actually change colors depending on age and season.

[amber-tortoiseshell]

A, B, C, D, E - Cat vs Rabbit

My comparative cat and rabbit color genetics post

Wild type (black agouti) rabbit and cat

My color genetics interest started out with rabbits, and while I know much more about cats now, they'll always have a spot in my heart...

In this post I'll go through the most important color genes, although sometimes I'll make comparisons based on phenotypes too.

All the photos are from the Warren Photographic Image Library.

A. Agouti

Both species have the dominant agouti (A) and the recessive self or nonagouti (a) alleles.

Black self rabbit and cat

Beyond these, cats add the charcoal (Apb) from the leopard cat, while rabbits have the otter or tan allele (at).

B. Brown

Black (B) as wild type, chocolate (b) as variant for both, and an extra recessive allele for cats: cinnamon (bl).

C. Color restriction

The most dominant allele of the series is the full color (C) for both species.

In rabbits the next is dark chinchilla (cchd), this gives the chinchilla and related colorations. Phenotypically basically the equivalent of silver tabbies in cats, despite silver (I) being a different gene. Chinchilla doesn't show up meaningfully on solid rabbits, so there's no smoke there.

Silver tabby cat and chinchilla rabbit. These are genetically very different colors, but manifest similarly: the animal loses the yellow-red pigments, and keeps the black.

The next rabbit allele in order of dominance is the sable or light chinchilla (cchl) which can be interpreted as the equivalent of sepia/burmese (cb) in cats, although they probably aren't the same mutation, because like the dark chinchilla allele above, sable has "silvering" effect on agoutis. Their shared characteristics are the slightly darker extremities and the intermediate interaction with the point allele.

Sable rabbit and sepia (or possibly mink) cat

The colorpoint pattern is also present in both animals under the names siamese (cs) and himalayan (ch). It manifests as pale body with dark extremities.

Pointed cat and rabbit

Edit: unfortunately I made a mistake here: while the color of this rabbit is indeed called point, it's not himalayan, it's nonagouti+sable+red. A real black himalayan rabbit looks like this:

Note the red eyes of the rabbit and the blue eyes of the cat - both suggest depigmentation.

Cats have a rare extra allele called mocha (cm).

And lastly, albino (c) is also present in both.

D. Dilute

Pretty much the same both genetically and in look. Dense (D) is dominant, diluted (d) is recessive.

Diluted (blue self) rabbit and cat

E. Extension

The mutations of this gene can be grouped into two categories:

increase of function: overproduction of black pigments. The animal is dark, melanistic. Dominant alleles.

loss of function: underproduction of black pigments. The animal is yellow/red. Recessive alleles.

Rabbits have two dominant alleles in the first group: full extension or dominant black (Ed) and steel (Es); cats have none. (Although this group isn't absent from the cat family either: black jaguars for example have a dominant black mutation.)

In the second group we have lots of different alleles: harlequin or japanese brindle (ej) and red (e) for rabbits, and amber, russet and copal/serdolik for cats (but their red is a different gene!). These all give different reddish phenotypes.

Red rabbit and cat - same name, similar color, different genetics.

The orange gene of the cats is an entirely different matter, and it's just a funny coincidence that harlequin rabbits look so similar to tortie cats. Brindle in rabbits is its own allele, not just the phenotype of the heterozygotes, and it's not sex-linked. Buck rabbits can be harlequins just as easily as does.

Harlequin rabbit and tortoiseshell cat - similar look, different name, different genetics

To make everything even more complicated, the word "tortoiseshell" (or shortly "tort") is used in rabbit breeding too, but it means a completely different thing than in cats: a nonagouti red. I assume because a nonagouti red rabbit (just like to the genetically very similar nonagouti amber cat) is darker than the agouti counterpart, especially on the extremities.

Tortoiseshell rabbit and cat - same name, different look, different genetics: bunny is a recessive homozygote for not sex-linked red, kitten is a heterozygote for sex-linked red.

+1. White spotting

Rabbits have three different white spotting genes: blue-eyed white or viennese, english and dutch. The latter two are strongly linked, the crossing over is rare. It's suspected that all three patterns are caused by mutations on the KIT gene. KIT is also the gene where all the so far known cat white spotting alleles: dominant white, white spotting and white gloving were mapped to.

Black dutch rabbit and black bicolor cat. They are remarkably similar, aren't they?

Summary:

[starboltz]

My thoughts of the new Minecraft wolf variants!

With the recent announcement of the new wolf variants, I wanted to give my two bits about what real life animal each of the variants are based on! (I study animal ecology so I get excited when animals are depicted in anywhere)

The Pale Wolf, Black Wolf, Snowy Wolf, Ashen Wolf, and Woods Wolf

All of these wolf variants are based on the Grey Wolf (Canis lupus), whether it be the typical Plains Wolf (Canis lupus nubilus), or a different subspecies. The Grey Wolf is the most common wolf species found on the world, typically lives in packs of 4-9 members, and typically has 5 accepted subspecies in the science community - but in total has over 30 subspecies (determining subspecies can be tricky).

The Pale Wolf is specifically meant to represent a Plains Wolf, as this design has been representing the Grey Wolf in Minecraft for at least 12 years. The Taiga biome is one of the biomes where Grey Wolves can be found, making it a great place to find Pale Wolves in Minecraft.

The Black Wolf is not a subspecies, but rather a color variant of the Gray Wolf. The black coloring of their coats is not typically caused by melanism, but rather is a normal gene found in Grey Wolves. One of the causes of wolves having a black coat is due to the black gene being linked to higher immunity to canine distemper, meaning the black wolves that survive the virus are able to reproduce and pass on their black genes. Does this mean distemper exists in Minecraft? Probably not, but that's up to your interpretation.

The Snowy Wolf is based on the Arctic Wolf (Canis lupus arctos). Artic wolves' white coats help them blend into the snow to help them hunt prey, and to hide them from potential predators.

The Ashen Wolf is likely based on the Eurasian Wolf (Canis lupus lupus). The Eurasian wolf can have similar coloring to the plains wolf, but has also been found with greyer coloring along its back, tail, and upper legs and face, and with white on its cheeks, underbelly and lower legs.

I think that the Woods Wolf is based on the Tibetan/Himalayan Wolf (Canis lupus chanco). It was a challenge to find what subspecies the woods wolf was based on because most wolves don't have the deep brown-orange coloring seen on the woods wolf, but the Tibetan/Himalayan wolf can often be seen with these colorings in the wild.

The Rusty Wolf

The Rusty Wolf is based on the Dhole (Cuon alpinus), also known as the Asiatic Wild Dog. Dholes have a rich tawny coat with a rich chocolatey tail. Unlike another popular red canine (the dingo), Dholes live in tropic forests, rainforests, and other habitats, making it an appropriate fit to be the jungle dwelling rusty wolf.

The Spotted Wolf

The Spotted Wolf is based on the African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus), also known as the Painted Dog or the Cape Hunting Dog. This is variant is my favorite of the variants, and is one of my favorite canines of all time. African wild dogs live in savannah and grasslands biomes irl, and have beautiful coats ranging in different patterns of tawny, black, and white. I don't know if this is possible for Minecraft mechanics, but hopefully the spotted wolves will have different coat variants like their irl counterparts.

The Striped Wolf

The Striped Wolf is based on the Aardwolf (Proteles cristata), which is a species of hyena, making them felids instead of canids! (Yes, hyenas are more closely related to cats than dogs). Aardwolves can be found in semi-arid and open plains, making the badlands a good place to find them in-game. Fun fact! Aardwolves mainly eat termites/ants. Hopefully the striped wolf won't starve in a "bugless" game (rip fireflies).

The Chestnut Wolf

This one frustrates me. I couldn't find a canine or canine adjacent animal that had even a similar coat pattern. This is not a wolf. It is a dog. Probably a Norwegian Elkhound.

[lackadaisycats]

Tracy, do you research cat genetics to determine if a certain breed/coloration is possible for a character with certain parents, or do you just draw them as whatever works for the character?

I do find the genetics of cat coloration interesting. In fact, I recall writing a longish and rather nerdy post about acromelanism and the Himalayan gene here some time ago.

Lackadaisy character designs, however, are far more of an art than a science. In many cases, their looks are based on cats I've known, so they might bear a passing resemblance to real world felines, but features from bobcats, caracals, lions, panthers and other species have also been subsumed into their looks. Essentially, they're each just an amalgam of catty features that I selected based on the mental associations I make between shape and personality...and on what simply felt right for the character.

[rottenpumpkin13]

My thoughts of ASGZC as cats

Sephiroth: would either be a Persian or a main coon because of his hair. Quiet at times, until feeding time of course. Playful, when in the mood.

Genesis: Abyssian because of the reddish fur but have the mindset of a crazy orange cat. Himalayan for his sassines

Angeal: A birman, for his loyalty towards his friends, somewhat laid back nature also friendly.

Zack: a dog who thinks he's a cat

Cloud: a Norwegian Forest cat, a small one, friendly not demanding of attention. Known to be on viking war ships to catch mice, not terrified of the cold water and snow

Cat AU

Kittyroth: This is Gene-hiss.

Gene-hiss: <3

Kittyroth: That's Catgeal.

Catgeal: ...

Kittyroth: And that's Cloudkitty.

Cloudkitty: ?

Zack: Woof!

Kittyroth: Oh, and that's Zack. He's special.

[casa-anachar]

Drosophilia Tempusfugit

(Written for @inklings-challenge 2024, this story will also be attributed to "Elena Gutierrez", one of my OC's in Now School - who needs to turn this story in for her creative writing class.)

“Linda, can you get the lights on this side of the lab? I can't read my test strip.”  That would be my labmate Memo, looking up from his bench hopefully. I don't know why he thinks that having half the lights out makes it easier to do work, but because the whole lab has motion-sensing lights, I can't just tell him to do it himself.

With a wince of disgust, I walk around the fume hood with the … thing that seems to be producing fruit flies spontaneously.  We sealed the fume hood, and then we sealed the exhaust on the roof, but the flies keep appearing. And dying. Memo and I have a bet going that whoever figures out where they're coming from doesn't have to clear out the fume hood.

I hope he's as clueless as I am.

I press the bottom button on the lab door control panel. “Memo what are you even testing?

“I wondered if flies would yield any sort of acid, like ants do. These? Four test strips and they all look very Blue.”

I pretend like I didn't get a pity-B-minus in chemistry last spring and stare at him. “Yeah, yeah, the ant-acid, we've all seen it. What does that have to do with anything?”

“You're still running the gene sequencing and you're sure these are Drosophilia Melanogaster?”

“I mean, yeah, although they behave like they're super-dehydrated. With the samples I take for the microscope, the water practically vanishes into the tissue slices.”

Maybe I've said too much because he gazes at the middle distance like he's figuring something out. Time to see if I can distract him. “Tell me where Jess found this thing again?”

Memo scowls a bit. “I hear she bought it at an arts-and-crafts fair up at the Balloon Fiesta a few weeks back, but she gave it to me when the flies started showing up in her lab across the quad.”

“What is it supposed to be?”

“I think she said it's an arrow.”

I tilt my head sideways and squint at the fume hood. I guess it's shaped like an arrow, though if I smashed it with a hammer it would make a pretty good Himalayan salt lamp. “What research does her group do?”

Memo scowls some more. “They're looking for something more accurate than carbon-dating, or better for recent specimens. I think she told me they're trying out Sodium-22 instead.”

I hear the lab door handle open. I'm glad it's noisy because the alternative is getting jump-scared by somebody behind me, though the only other person who comes to this lab has begun to creep me out anyway. It's Dr. Enrique, who is Memo's PhD advisor and my boss, and lately he's been a little touchy - and I don't mean anxious. I notice that I've turned around in my seat, making my shoulders less convenient to reach.

“Oh, we got some mood lighting in here! Linda, you find any unique genes yet?”

I shake my head.

“Guillermo, do I need to keep this on the dee-ell so Jess doesn't get jealous?”

“You saying you know something that I don't, boss?” Memo covers a blush with another scowl.

“Look, if your nena from the physics department comes in with a rock that disproves Louie Pasteur, I'd gladly let her be second author.”  He's looking at Memo as he crosses the room. I rotate again to keep facing Dr. Enrique. “I'm telling you, my single grad students are never as efficient as the ones who make out on a regular basis. Oh, and don't forget Friday, you're on for crackers and marshmallows.”

— [later] —

I lean against the dining room doorway and wait for Memo to finish loading up his cafeteria tray.  I feel a bit sorry for him also being bothered by Dr. Enrique, and it's not like I can ever use all 120 swipes on this meal plan by myself.  He grabs a second plastic-wrapped cinnamon cake slice and starts toward me, and I pull my ID out to swipe twice.

We head to a high table facing the gym next door, and he doubles back to the drink fountain after we set our trays down.  At least it's nice that he knows I like root beer, but since it looks like the blue raspberry juice lever is working today, he comes back with two cups and begins guzzling his antifreeze-lookalike beverage. I try to ignore this.

“Sorry about this afternoon. Enrique's usually not like that.”

A few seconds go by before I realize I'm grateful that he hasn't looked up at me, with my half-chewed salad bite on full display. Why the hell would he defend our boss?  I quickly swallow and ask,  “Tell me, does he give you surprise shoulder massages too?"

“Only at the backyard firepit pa-” He looks up at me, with my face stuck between surprise and anger.

“Look, I know I'm just a sophomore and this is my first work-study, but I don't think it's cool that this is going on and I didn't ask for it, let alone have a chance to say no. I just wanted to learn how virus research works, and now I'm not even getting to do that because we have to deal with all these -” I pause as a large fly buzzes past me and circles my root beer - “damn-” i clap at it with my napkin in one hand “mystery-” i turn and clap a second time “flies!"

On the third clap, I finally catch the fly, and tear off the corner of the napkin where its partly squashed body is stuck. I get up and toss it in the trash, loop past the hand sanitizer dispenser, and grab a different napkin to clean my other hand.  It's a small victory.  Back at the table, Memo is staring out the window at the patio railing. I look closer to see if somebody from the parkour club is trying to scale the 9 foot jump to make it over the handrail, and sure enough, here comes a girl with a blond pixie cut who makes it to the top of the concrete, hooks a hand on the top rail, and smiles and waves at Memo, and then spots me and vanishes before I can tell her reaction.

“Jess?” I ask.

“Yup.” Memo turns back to me and asks, “Do you know her a bit?"

I shake my head. I've seen her around my dorm, though I think she's an R. A. downstairs so I don't run into her as often. “What is up with you two anyway?”

He sighs. “We went on a couple dates this past spring, like ‘drive up to the city for a museum and a nice dinner' type stuff. I realized after the second date that she's not really lighting the spark for me, she gets manic too often for that. But we're still in the same friend group, and people think we're cute together? Maybe that part's just a side effect of Enrique's parties.”

Ugh, again with the parties. My roommate last year was all about them, and the second-hand effects of her Saturday morning ritual hangovers really wore me out - I was secretly pretty happy when she transferred out at winter break.  I consider asking Memo if people ever grow out of that phase, but now he's watching the nerdy sitcom on the TV in the corner, and we'll probably do this dinner again next week.

 —

Memo is staring at the fume hood when I walk in Friday morning.  I only have an hour before my lecture, but I still have to wrap up the results on my tests from two days ago.

He speaks first.  “Can you go to 224’s closet and get the shop vac?”  He tosses me a set of keys.

“Are you admitting defeat?"

“I'm calling a truce.  The dead flies are so thick I can't see the floor of the fume hood anywhere, and our bet seems like a dangerous situation there.”

I cross the hallway, find the J224 key, and try it in the lock. It doesn't turn, so I look up and realize i've gone the wrong direction, loop around to a different hallway, past the construction zone plastic sheeting, and start counting doorways.  222, 223, 226, wait, okay, it's time to go yell at Memo to get his own damn shop-vac now.  This is the wrong weekend, and next semester's intro to endocrinology elective can't come soon enough - I swear I'm gonna figure out how to take these PMS symptoms down a notch or three.

I re-enter the lab from the other door after a couple deep breaths, and squint hoping to avoid tears.  Memo turns around as I say, with an angry tone, “Your request took me through the part of this building that makes no damn sense."

Memo slaps his forehead. “Oops, I forgot, that's the hallway that's closed right now, but we can take the back way through 223.  Can I have my keys back?"

I stick out my tongue, still glaring, and he raises his hands. “Fair enough, follow me."

Three minutes later, we're staring at the worlds creepiest revolving door.  It's this four-foot diameter opaque tube with no lights inside.  We had stepped in, grabbed the door handles, and turned the tube until the door faced room 225, wandered through the dark room to try the closet there, you get the point.  We can't roll the vacuum through the door because there's a steel ring on the floor to hold the tube in place.  Now we lift up the vacuum, and Memo swears as the vacuum handle on his side turns out to be a latch and the bucket spills a bunch of dust on him.

“So much for a clean getaway?” I ask, finally seeing a moment in the absurdity to giggle.

“Just [cough] let me swing [cough] past my locker [cough] on the w[cough] ay back.” He swings the door around through the darkness, and more carefully this time, we hoist the vacuum out into the blessedly well-lit room 223.

I'm by myself in the lab and the vacuum cleaner is noisy, but it seems to be doing its job when i suddenly notice a couple slivers of paper in the front corner of the fume hood box amid all the dead flies.  It's also too loud to hear the door handle of the lab, so when an arm reaches over my shoulder to lift the glass door a bit higher, I jab my elbow backward as hard as I can and the hose falls out of the fume hood, but not before sucking up the papers.

In my panic I manage to turn off the vacuum cleaner in time to hear Memo, doubled over behind me.  “Ow! Crap, what —”

I take a couple more deep breaths. “Oh. I'm sorry that turned out to be a rougher lesson than I wanted it to be, but do you get it now? If Dr. Enrique had done that to me, I wouldn't be sorry. I'd probably also be fired, and/or talking to Campo."

Memo nods quietly.  Our campus police department is a mixed bag when it comes to actually following up on assault reports, but they hired a couple ladies this year who aren't shy about driving people down past the plaza to the sheriff's office in handcuffs.

I sit down and take a few more deep breaths, and then remember that I need to get those papers back out of the vacuum.  I undo the latch on the bucket, and to my luck, right on top is a triangular scrap of brittle napkin with a squashed fly on it.

“Memo?” my voice breaks a bit, “do you remember the other night when I caught a fly on my napkin?"

“Yeah, yeah, I got the point. You don't need to keep elbowing me in the gut about it."

“No, it's really not that, I think this is that fly."

“How do you know?”

"The napkin scrap is torn the exact same way. It's not a perfect triangle, and this bit is the size of my fingernail.”

"So, crazy coincidence aside, what do we have, fly Valhalla in our fume hood? Is that what the sculpture does?"

I stifle a laugh. “Okay, I don't know, but there's one more potential clue, and I need a favor from you."

“Go on?"

“There's one more piece of paper that got sucked into the bucket, and I need you to dig it out.”

Two minutes later, Memo is taking off gloves, and I'm chewing a few sticks of mint gum to keep my stomach calm.  I smooth out the crumpled paper and flick the fly guts away.  “I think it's a receipt fragment.  You keep these, right? "

“Not really, but I know Jess does.  Why do you ask? "

“I just thought if we found one that looked similar, we'd know where?...when? it came from.  I wanna say it's from Smith's, I see grocery stuff on here."

“See if there's a credit card number, they usually put the timestamp near it."

We bonk heads while staring at all the numbers, until Memo points at a date and time, two days after Christmas.

Of this year.

Almost two months in the future.

I find my voice first. “So we have flies? From the future? Time traveling flies?"

Memo finds a voice, but it sounds way more robotic and emotionless than usual. “Please tell me you can find the specific fly guts you cleared off this paper."

I point to the small fly corpse on the gray countertop and thank God somebody wiped down this bench last night. This is still too weird. But Memo grabs a test tube, some tweezers, and a cork, and gently stores the mundane dead bug that we now have wildly improbable documentation for. “So we have time flies … and they like an arrow.”

Two live bugs buzz past our faces as we sit folded on the floor with laughter. I catch a breath and offer, “Hey, what if somebody sneezed on this bug? Would it carry the virus back in time?”

Memo pulls himself to his feet and shuts the fume hood door to keep the rest of the flies inside. Still gasping, he offers, “I mean, you said you wanted to do virus research, and ‘Flu season is just around the corner’” he sings to match the jingle that our store's PA system plays every 5 minutes now that they have a fully staffed pharmacy.

I look down at my watch. “Crap, I've got two minutes before my statistics class in Cramer Hall, rain check?”

Memo smiles. “If you're back by 11, I'll still be setting everything up.”

[the-adventures-of-dave]

What's wrong with bombay cats ethically? Hadn't heard of that one.

Bombay cats, as a breed created by crossing the Burmese and American Shorthair breeds, are known to have a genetic disorder called “Burmese Head Defect”. One copy of the gene gives the Bombay cat the desired brachycephalic head shape and large eyes as required by the breed standard, whereas two copies of the gene cause lethal deformities of the skull (incomplete development of the skull above the jaw, missing eyes and ears, double whisker pads, protrusion of the brain from the skull, and more). Kittens with this defect are born stillborn or require immediate euthanasia as they would not be able to survive with any quality of life. You can read more about the condition here.

All that to say that, like Munchkins or Scottish Folds, it is “desirable” to breed cats with a single copy of a lethal trait, as it has aesthetic aspects encouraged by the breed standard. While not all bombay cats have this gene and not all breeders intentionally breed cats with this gene I don’t think it is particularly ethical to purposefully breed cats to a breed standard that encourages the aesthetic of genetic defects. Even though the single gene version of the cats are able to survive, brachycephaly has been proven to lower a cat’s quality of life significantly, and their large eyes also make me question whether or not they have vision problems. In bombay cats even without the gene, they will still suffer from the brachycephaly present in the breed standard and show circles, which comes with its own health problems.

(These are all show/breeding quality bombays- thanks @catsindoors for sharing them with me!)

If your breed standard is inherently tied to traits that limit a cat’s quality of life, I don’t think it is ethical to breed those cats. This goes for Burmese, Munchkins, Scottish Folds, extreme Persians/Himalayans/Exotics, and unfortunately Bombays.

[roguemonsterfucker]

Another rat question, borne of basically no knowledge but curiosity since you mentioned rat genetics…

How does color inheritance in rats work? Are there any sex-specific colors or patterns? (Like how calico cats are overwhelmingly XX)? Can there be a lot of variation in a litter?

I don’t know of any sex specific genes in rats.

You can get a LOT of variation in a litter! I’ll try to track down a litter I had where almost every single baby was different. And it was a large litter lol.

Basically the way coat genetics works is that there are two base colors: Agouti and black. Every other color is built on top of that with modifiers and dilutions.

For example, in the "fuck them kids" rat video, the momma is a hooded (marking) beige (color). Beige is caused by a specific dilution gene on top of a black base. If the base was agouti instead of black, the color would be called Fawn and it would be a lot more yellow and have variations in the hairs.

I'm struggling to remember the exact parentage of these babies... I thought they were from Biter and Havershem but now I think they're from Cricket and Biter and Havershem's baby but I can't remember who that would be. 😭

Either way, one parent was black based and one parent was agouti that carried black. Which resulted in half the litter being black based and the other half being agouti based.

Both parents carried a c locus gene. the c locus can be albino, himalayan, or siamese. This litter has a handful of siamese and I believe a single himalayan (it's in the middle on the right of the one with a black head and black spots down its back). The siamese are born with some coloration, which lightens as they age, and himalayans are born completely white and they darken as they age.

Both parents also carried the mink gene, which is a modifier that turns them brown. Mink on top of agouti makes cinnamon and there are two cinnamons in this litter (far right, you can see just the head of one). Mink on black makes... well. Mink. There's one mink in this litter (the lowest one in the picture, whose whole body you can see).

Two ended up plain black with no modifiers or dilutions. One ended up plain agouti (second from the left).

Hopefully that gives you an idea of what's possible in a single litter!

[shiyorin]

Hello. I hope you're doing well in life🌹 If possible, I would like to request a Sanguinius with an eternal reader who has a vibe of Ciaphas Cain. Let's say the reader was with the Emperor and Malcador from the very beginning. But the reader is so fickle and enthusiastic that he appeared in the Imperium, did important things and then abruptly disappeared for several more centuries. And then he appears again and sees the primarchs. In general, the plot is completely at your disposal. Do not limit yourself in anything) And can his warriors be called Saracens? It's such a powerful word that I can't. It's perfect for a Warhammer

Aww, thank you. I'm fine.

Sanguinius x Perpetual! Reader

- When you know about Jimmy Space Emperor of Mankind's plan to create 20 18 creatures carrying his own genes, you're not too surprised. After all, he would do anything for his race, Mankind. But seeing what happened to the Thunder Warriors, well, you're not sure if you should feel sorry for these creatures… You agree with the Emperor's ideals, but not his methods. However, you and him still have a strange friendship. Actually, you don't think it's a friendship, you prefer to think of it as an ally. One that still exists as a result of a mutual understanding, one that is ultimately beneficial but not necessarily friendly.

- The first time you meet the primarchs, it's been a long time since the Himalayan lab was destroyed by the Ruinous Powers. And you haven't seen the Emperor and Malcador for a long time. Like father like son, a bunch of assholes. However, there are some guys, you have to look closely to realize he is an asshole. Among them can be mentioned names like Rogal Dorn, Roboute Guilliman, Sanguinius…. Especially Sanguinius. When you see those wings, that mutation, it reminds you of images in the ancient texts of Terra, an expression of holiness, of purity, angel of a god. But the Emperor is not god, and the Emperor's children can never be holy. You mean he may be his angel but holy? Never. And moreover, those wings are a byproduct of Warp. But you can't help but feel interested when you see that man.

- Meanwhile, Sanguinius watches this incredibly mysterious man, observing you closely for reasons he might not even fully explain himself. It might feel like a sort of… curiosity, maybe? Maybe he was just surprised to see that there was one other person besides Malcador who could be allowed to stand next to the Master of Mankind?

- And your mystery fuels Sanguinius' curiosity by haunting his visions of the future. You appear in his visions, not much but enough to make him wonder, worry, even….. obsession? Like a shadow or a fog, something that he can't quite make out just yet. And that gives him an obsession, a sort of burning desire to learn more about the person he can't quite make out. He still doesn't know who you are or what you represent, always at a distance, never quite in-sight…. But there are times in those visions when he sees your smile when you look at him, your tender touches to him, even your words even though he only sees you move your lips. A strange feeling begins to appear in him…

- For Sanguinius, his whole life is dedicated to the Emperor and his Legion, that's who he is, who he's designed to be. But there's you, and you're completely and utterly outwitting the Emperor's carefully-orchestrated designs. And he experienced fear for the first time… or even a greater feeling than that. Love, possibly?

- He falls in love with you through his vision of the future.

- But Sanguinius was incredibly unsure, wondering why he liked someone he can't even identify or properly see. He has to struggle between the idea that what he feels is real or just an extension of his visions of the future. Maybe the next meeting can explain this?

- And Sanguinius's next meeting with you is on the battlefield, when he sees you and your Saracens fighting. And he was stunning by the sight, your warriors dancing the death dance over the bloody feast, and the center of that feast was you, the embodiment of death. But every party must come to an end, after cleaning up the remnants of the xenos, you and the Saracens disappeared without a trace. And now he understands why you can stand next to his father.

- Sanguinius tried to separate his feelings from what his visions have shown him. It's like there's so much room for angst and uncertainty, too. Especially after that second meeting, he thinks that his visions and his emotions are completely separate, but they might have started blending together. The yearning grew in him, but he ignored it. Maybe he's just curious about you, maybe he just wants to see you, maybe….

- You are surprised that Sanguinius was able to find you, and even more surprised when he confessed his feelings to you. In response to those words, of course you choose to refuse. Honestly, his boldness makes you hesitate for a moment. But you've only met Sanguinius a few times, he is still just a boy. You're a being that has existed for countless years, and he has only been alive for a fraction of that time. Also, he is a Primarch, son of Jimmy Emperor, you don't want your old friend to look at you with his judgmental eyes.

- Sanguinius seemed to anticipate the rejection and happily accepted it. But maybe if he can't be your lover, he still hopes to be friends with you. Even if you rejected him, he's still going to love you in a respectful, discreet way. He loves you in the background, out of your sight. He loves from a distance, but with a care and a devotion that only grows with time.

- He always praises you for your talents and feats in the past. At times like that, you just laugh it off. Actually, you're not good at anything, there's nothing to be praised for, you're just lucky. You are always afraid of death, no, you are perpetual, how can you die? You fear things worse than death, and that's why you rarely appear in public. This is a secret that only you and perhaps the Emperor and Malcador know. The secret that you are a coward.

- Over time, you develop a certain feeling for Sanguinius, but it's not love, certainly not. It's kind of more than friendship and less than love. Sanguinius knows that, that feeling you can't see in yourself is something he's always watching for it to shine through the shadows. You didn't say it clearly but you allowed Sanguinius to cross some boundaries. Sometimes, you and him give each other a fleeting kiss, but that's all. You know you couldn't give him more. Love? That thing hasn't been in your life for a very long time. You and him are people who live in darkness, chasing light is instinct. The difference is Sanguinius can be desperate for chasing the light, and he knows very well that light can be grasped only by reaching out. And you have long since given up your desire for light, you only need the light to hang there and be satisfied with that.

- As for Sanguinius…. Well, he was both satisfied and dissatisfied with this. Part of him knows this relationship is just that. The other part, it's still not enough, he's still yearning because of the overwhelming desire. He hesitates to take it a step further, but is also pleased with everything you've given him. His hesitation was short-lived, though, when visions of the future that foreshadow the reality that constantly brings Sanguinius nightmares. He saw his brothers betray, his sons die, the Imperium they built from so much blood and tears fell,…. He desperately wants to preserve what he has, but he can't shake the fear of what could come.

- For somehow, you know it, but you can't tell. You know his condition, but you can't do anything. You know the future he's worried about, you worry about it too but the Emperor has his own plans for humanity, and there's little you can do. All you can do is just follow the predetermined future, do what you can for humanity, for the Emperor… As you always have. You know the outcome of the war, for you know many things, but you don't speak it. There is little more to be said.

It's so sad that climaxes come to an end, why so tired?

Before the Angel's last flight, he confesses his feelings to you again, this time you respond with a nod.

"Actually I'm enjoy with what you can gave me, but… Well, whatever…" He tells you with a sad smile.

You give him a kiss. "We can do it."

Honestly, you know what the outcome will be. It's just a part of you that still hopes the future can change, the results can change.

[planetgayanimals]

Although my rabbit sonas are unknowable beast, even more mind bending beast, and Holland lop with possible rex gene and with liberties for cute factor, I myself am actually a Himalayan rabbit

[roseate-felidae]

Hi, @leslapinscretins

In reference to these merged images:

Here are the colours for you. I have included the regular name, rex name and images of them in the mini rex rabbit.

All blue box mini rex photos are from The British Mini Rex Club.

Agouti series

Agouti, chestnut in America. sometimes called Chestnut agouti. This is the wild rabbit colour.

Used to be called Brown grey in the old days, still is used for old breeds like Flemish Giant and Dutch.

Official name is Castor in rex, meaning "beaver". Rex used to be called Castorex until more colours were added.

Opal, this is dilute Agouti, aka. Blue Agouti

Cinnamon, this is Chocolate Agouti, most people don't know this name. Sometimes called Amber in rex.

Lynx, this is dilute Chocolate Agouti, basically dilute Cinnamon or lilac Agouti.

Otter series

Otter, comes in black, blue, chocolate and lilac.

Tan is basically otter with rufous gene, sometimes called Black and tan. But it does come in blue, chocolate and lilac aswell.

Tan is allowed in few breeds like Tan rabbit and Belgian hare. It is usually a disqualification in otter colour rabbit breeds, nicknamed "fire belly".

One of my favourite colours (I love tri and Lutino more though).

Self series

black self, called Smoke in angora rabbits.

blue self, the dilute of black.

Chocolate self, in the past was called brown. Rex is named Havana, after the original chocolate rabbit breed, who in turn is named after the cigar.

lilac self, the dilute of chocolate

Red eyes white (REW), colloquially called White, in rex is called Ermine after the winter coat of stoats (which were used in fur industries). Is actually not a self breed but a chinchilla series. any rabbit will become this if carrying double Red eyes white. it works like a blanket, masking the other colours.

Blue eyed white (BEW), the double form of vienna. Single version is called Vienna.

Vienna sometimes shows up as random white patches. Not all have white patches, if your rabbit has one, two or partial blue eyes, it is still carrying a vienna gene.

Blue eyed white is not related to the chinchilla series Red eyed white.

Chinchilla series

The chinchilla series removes yellow pigment. Below is chinchilla series on Agouti.

The chinchilla or Chinrex when rex. was named after the rodent. It is Agouti and Chinchilla series.

Dilute is called Squirrel, aka. Blue chinchilla.

Chocolate and lilac chinchilla exist but are disqualified and rare.

Marten

The chinchilla series Otter rabbits

Marten, sometimes called Silver Martin or fox. Named after the animal used in fur industry. Comes in black, blue, chocolate and lilac.

Shaded

Sable agouti (right), mostly forgotten colour, comes in black, blue, chocolate and lilac.

Actually darker and bigger face marking then image. Image is juvenile.

Seal, comes in Marten seal, and a self version, called Siamese seal. Marten seal is double dose of shaded gene on a marten, Siamese seal is double Siamese sable..

Martin sable, the sable gene on an otter rabbit. Needs to carry Himalayan or red eyed white to not be seal. Comes in dark, light and medium shades. Has a chocolate variant.

Kits have no pattern, develops with age.

Martin smoke pearl, the dilute of Martin sable. Needs to carry Himalayan or red eyed white to not be seal. Comes in dark, light and medium shades.

Kits have no pattern, develops with age.

Siamese sable, the self version of sable marten. Needs to carry Himalayan or red eyed white to not be seal. Comes in dark, light and medium shades.

Kits have no pattern, develops with age.

Siamese smoke pearl, sometimes shortened to smoke pearl. The dilute of Siamese sable. Needs to carry Himalayan or red eyed white to not be seal. Comes in dark, light and medium shades.

Kits have no pattern, develops with age.

Himilayan-

Himilayan, a temperature based albinism. Named after the cat. Also called Californian and pointed white. Comes in black, blue, chocolate and lilac.I

A self breed. Agouti or otter is called martenized Himalayan and is disqualified.

Born white, pattern develops with age.

non extension-

Orange. used to be called yellow, old breeds like Dutch are still called Yellow. Called Fawn in Angora. Becomes red when paired with rufous gene. not a self rabbit but actually an Agouti based rabbit.

Fawn, dilute orange. Sometimes called Beige. Not a self rabbit but Agouti based.

harlequin, sometimes called Japanese harlequin or Japanese. It is a Agouti breed. Self versions are faded and called tort based harlequins. Tort based harlequins are disqualified.

Comes in Black-orange, blue-fawn, chocolate -Orange and lilac-fawn

magpie. Pairing of harlequin and Chinchilla series

Sooty fawn, sometimes called tort. Is named tortoiseshell in rex. a self shaded breed that is non extension. The dilute of sooty fawn is called Beige.

Sable point. Is a Tort mixed with chinchilla series.I

Broken-

Broken. Called Dalmatian in Rex. Shown above is Dalmation Bi. It is also called English, spotted and butterfly. Needs to be blanket version on most. Spotted version is allowed on rex. spotted required on English spot, rhinelander, giant papillion and dwarf papillon.

In its double form it's white with head markings and Herringbone on back. The double is called "Charlie " after the incomplete nose marking resembling Charlie Chaplin moustache.

Booted- broken is only shown as white feet on solid rabbit. Disqualified.

Tri colour. Called dalmatian tri in rex, tri in others. It's similar to Tri-colour Dutch (except that's harlequin and dutch, not harlequin and broken.) The English also comes in tri colour. It is not excepted in most breeds. One of my favourite colours!!!!!!

Lutino-

Lutino. A new mutation. While albinism removes melanin, if it removes yellow it makes albino, if it keeps yellow it's a lutino.

All Lutino have red eyes. On an agouti rabbit it is called Shadow Lutino (it has grey fur closer to skin), on Orange it is just Lutino and on self it is called Dove (Beige in America).

On the left is lutino and the right is Dove.

Unstandardized in most breeds, has been recently allowed in Netherland dwarf rabbits.

This is my favourite rabbit (and bird) colour mutation!!!!

Colours without images-

I hit my image limit on this post. :(

these are some other colours below.

Dutch - only allowed in Dutch rabbits. Used to be called belted. There was a "new style" that had four boots and thin blaze and collar. Thankfully the old style is what stayed. has a white "belt" that covers the front legs, a "blaze" and two white back feet called "stops". Some mini lops call it split.

Steel- sometimes called steel grey. In double form is nearly black and called super steel.

Frosty- a white rabbit with very faint points. Made by mixing sooty fawn and chinchilla series. Unstandarised in every breed.

Sallander- rare variety breed, "Base colour pearl with blackish brown guard hairs giving a veil of pale charcoal". Made from shaded and sooty fawn.

Thuringer- rare variety breed. "buff to deep yellow ochre with blue-black ticking"

Well I'm finished, it took all night and my hands cramped, but it's done!

You didn't ask but I was enslaved by some otherworldly autistic forces took the opportunity.

* updated, removed spelling mistakes basically*

[velvetedantler]

so, about the black crystal (homozygous) american mink, I've read that it has the COPA genes and can be somewhat similar between hedlund white or the himalayan coat demonstrated in the marbled one

the question is, does the C^r/C^r mink is a temperature sensitive as well?

Yes! I believe so! At least from what I've read it seems like both the minks have a similar gene to the Siamese cat which is also temperature sensitive.

If anyone has any information on this please sound off! I'm really fascinated by mink genetics.

[fairyoctopus]

there's a specific kind of coatl i want, and like.

my options are:

hope someone lists exactly what i want in the AH

buy something close enough and shell out for the gem genes i want it to have

hope to find a non-coatl with the genes/colors i like and drop 2kg on a scroll for it

breeding project.

breeding project is most likely what i'll do since its cheaper but...

also, before you ask, i dont even know what i want specifically. i just have a vague idea in my mind. im thinking white iridescent/some pink shade jester/obsidian points ????

theres white/white/obsidian in the AH (with arcane eyes which i need) that looks pretty good with the genes, but i'd like the wings to really sell the arcane look. its for my dragon zodiacs, and i want them to evoke 'himalayan rabbit' but also have the pink range secondary for the magic look, considering they'll be a magician.

[dikdikpronouncedxylophone]

Adam: I just got my DNA test results. Dr Lawrence: And? Adam: I'm descended from Russian horse thieves and a clan of Himalayan cave bears on my dad's side... and a sect of organic Alfalfa-farming episcopal bible camp teachers on my mom's. Adam: I wonder what that means. Dr Lawrence: That your mom has all recessive genes?

[roseate-felidae]

Yep.

It's also called temperature based albinism. It exists on the c gene.

It famously removes/dilutes yellow pigment. It causes the eumelanin to be less concentrated making it appear to be a colour called Seal.

It's in rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, gerbils, hamsters, and sheep, too. Recently, in 2017, it has been discovered in dogs.

Strangely, they all have red eyes due to lack of pigment, but the cat version has blue eyes (with missing tapetum lucidium, too).

My rabbit, Jasmine has it. She's a pointed white Netherland Dwarf.

It has recently appeared in dogs. It is has been documented in more dogs since 2017. This is Matysek, the colour point dachshund from "color point dog" on Facebook. Not much is known about it in dogs.

Himalayan mouse photo from the National mouse club website.

Himalayan cavy from British cavy council website.

Siamese Gerbil photo from American gerbil society website.

Hampshire sheep photo from Wikipedia

These animals have the distinct limb, face, ear and tail (not cavy) points as the pointed cat.

But what happens when the limbs and face is too short/close to the body that it doesn't get much colder than the main body tempreture?

This is exactly what happens in Syrian hamsters. The only area to get cold enough for pigment is the ears on the hamster.

It is called the Dark Eared White in Syrian Hamsters. Photo from Ontario hamster club's instagram. My first pet was a dark eared white long-haired Syrian sow called Misty.

Even though these mutations all appear in these animals. The effectiveness of how well they remove Phaeomelanin (yellow pigment) varies. This is really easy to see when you combine genes that remove eumelanin with the himalayan gene.

The yellow gene in sheep is unpopular, and not much is known about the colour point gene in dogs. So I will not to go into the removal of yellow pigment in those two.

In Rabbits, the himalayan gene removes almost all yellow. Sometimes there is slight yellowing but that is a fault. But the non extension gene, orange does not remove all eumelanin pigment. This is why when non extension is combined with himalayan in rabbits it fades the points.

Screenshot of Non extension pointed netherland dwarf from Rabbittalk

In Mongolian gerbils, guinea pigs, and fancy mice, they remove all the yellow pigment. Since the pink eyed mutation in gerbils, the cinnamon mutation in hamsters, and the red mutation in guinea pigs removes all eumelanin (black pigment), when they are paired with the colour point gene it creates pink eyed whites (flesh eared white in hamster). Fun fact: we haven't discovered true albinism in guinea pigs, hamsters, or gerbils yet, all red eyed whites are genetically their version of red himalayans.

Red eyed white cavy from Ontario cavy club website. Ps. That tag is just stuck on not peirced.

In cats, the c gene is not effective at removing much yellow pigment. So it dilutes it. You get flame point this way.

Flame point Siamese from THE RED POINT & TORTIE POINT SIAMESE CAT CLUB website.

*edit:

Added corrections that were mentioned to me by @amber-tortoiseshell

● Corrected the Frosty point to a himalayan non extension

● Changed wording of changes black into to seal to changes concentration of eumelanin to appear like the colour called Seal.

● More dogs have been discovered with points since the last two.

Tiredness causes mistakes, i am always happy to amend my posts if you spot a mistake.*