TIL the same gene makes blotched tabby cats and king cheetahs

cluse started this discussion on Sep 27, 2026 in til_nature

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Posted 21 hours ago

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Edited 21 hours ago

Changes in a gene called Taqpep turn a mackerel tabby's thin stripes into swirled blotches. In cheetahs, the same change turns spots into the stripes of the rare "king cheetah".

Source: Kaelin et al., Specifying and Sustaining Pigmentation Patterns in Domestic and Wild Cats, Science (2012). doi.org/10.1126/science.1220893

Image: Olga Ernst, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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A king cheetah, with blotched stripes instead of spots

Image: Olga Ernst, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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