Are orange cats really the goofiest cats? Genetics may have an answer.

National Geographic

4 days ago

The best science on ginger feline behavior hints, yeah, there might be something special about them. Orange cats are said to have goofy personalities. Is that really true? Photograph by Christina Gandolfo, Alamy Stock Photo
Hanging from lamps, catapulting off countertops, tackling the dog, biting your legs unexpectedly—there are many wacky behaviors associated with orange cats, often captured on TikTok, whose owners swear are extra derpy, slapdash, and yet also friendly to a fault.
But scientifically speaking, are orange cats actually any different than cats of other colors?
For starters, orange cats are not a breed, like British shorthair or Siamese. Cats of many breeds, from Maine coons and munchkins to American bobtails and Siberians, can have orange colorations. Which perhaps makes it all the weirder that orange cat aficionados claim that orange cat behaviors transcend breed.
Earlier this year scientists identified the gene responsible for the orange coat coloration found in cats. It's called ARHGAP36. But as to whether orange coloration also comes with a suite of behaviors or personality traits, much less is known.
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In 2015, a small study published in the journal Anthrozoös used an anonymous online poll to find that people were at least more likely to attribute the trait 'friendliness' to orange cats than other cat colors. And a larger study published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior in the same year also found some support to the idea that orange cats are distinct.
'We found that most of the differences are breed-related, but there were also some differences related to coat color,' says Carlo Siracusa, a clinical scientist at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and senior author of the study.
Lilac-colored cats, for instance, were found to be more playful and more likely to experience separation anxiety. Piebald cats, or those with white patches, had decreased vocalization scores. And cats with a tortoiseshell pattern were less aggressive toward dogs.
But orange cats?
'It's interesting that you mention orange cats being more outgoing, more gregarious, because actually, we found the opposite,' says Siracusa. 'They were more likely to show fear-related aggressions towards unfamiliar people.' Orange cats were also linked to a heightened interest in prey. Digging into the science on orange cats
While Siracusa's research may be some of the best we have when it comes to attributing any behavior to cat colors, he is quick to qualify the findings.
'Our assessment was done through questions sent to owners. It was not done via direct observation,' he says. 'Every time you use a questionnaire, you are assuming the risk of bias, because you are asking people what they think about something.'
Therefore, it may just be that the idea of orange cats being extra sassy is so prominent, that bias is showing up in studies.
Even with that knowledge though, Siracusa says biases are often grounded in experience. And as someone who handles cats on a regular basis, he has his own experience-based beliefs, such as male cats being more outgoing than females.
'My perception itself, at this point, is a bias,' he laughs. Orange cat behavior—what we do know
Even without a slam-dunk study connecting a cat's orange-ness to its personality, there are hints at a biological link.
Remember the ARHGAP36 gene that provides orange coloration? Well, it's linked to the X-chromosome. This explains why orange cats are more likely to be male, the authors report in the study published in Current Biology.
Female cats have two X chromosomes. And that means they must possess two copies of the gene in order to produce orange coloration. But males, which have XY chromosomes, need just one copy of ARHGAP36, to develop orange colorations. Perhaps this is the real answer to orange cat quirkiness: Siracusa tends to think that, in general, male cats are more outgoing.
But, here's where things get interesting.
As scientists learn more about genes and how they influence development, they have learned that any given gene is often linked with a variety of downstream traits. For instance, people with red hair have a variant of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene, which may also be linked to a higher tolerance of pain and reduced effectiveness of anesthesia.
Now, in studies of humans and mice, the ARHGAP36 gene is expressed in the brain and hormonal glands. Even more interestingly, the cells that give fur or skin color, known as pigment cells, actually begin their development in the neural crest cells of an embryo.
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These cells can also 'differentiate into neurons and endocrine cells that produce catecholamines, which are known to control activity and excitability,' says Hiroyuki Sasaki, an emeritus professor and geneticist at Kyushu University in Japan, in an email.
'It thus seems possible that the DNA mutation in the gene could cause changes in temperaments and behaviors,' says Sasaki, who is senior author on the study. 'I should like to stress, however, that this is just a speculation.' Cats are individuals, too
Even if there was some scientific underpinning for ginger cat behavior, the scientists stress, there would always likely be exceptions to the rules.
'This is what we see in the clinics every day,' says Siracusa, who says clients frequently tell him they selected a certain breed or color pet for its prescribed behavior. 'And then they have an animal that behaves in a completely opposite manner, and they are shocked,' he says.
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With nearly 74 million pet cats in the United States alone, you might wonder how it is that anything remains a mystery about the companion animals.
But questions that are not linked to urgent human or animal health issues often go overlooked and underfunded, says Sasaki.
'Our world is still full of mystery, and there are so many unanswered questions around us, including those that may seem very simple,' says Sasaki.