I dare say that the first reaction of most people when they see this cat must be "PS".
is not true!
This kitten is called Venus, with 2.27 million fans on the entire network, and is a real big internet celebrity.
Someone will definitely say: You are talking nonsense, you are lying! How could a cat's face be half black and half orange? It's not biased in the middle, as if it's deliberately drawing a line?
Don't worry, listen to me slowly for you.
In genetics, there is an extremely rare phenomenon called chimerism phenomenon.
The so-called chimerism phenomenon is that during the pregnancy process, different fertilized eggs are fused together to become a single organic life form.
Simply put, half of the DNA we see of Venus is actually her brothers and sisters.
When she was still in the embryonic state, she accidentally absorbed and fused another embryo in her mother's belly, and then continued to grow and develop.
Finally, a complete kitten was born.
And the kitten's body carries two completely different groups of DNA, which is the chimera phenomenon.
If you look at it from a biological point of view alone, a chimeric kitten like Venus is actually two cats!
This way, can the kitten have "two faces" be explained?
Friends who pay attention to details will probably find that the special nature of Venus is not just two different styles.
Even her eyes are also mandarin duck eyes. Is
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also the cause of chimerism?
So is the kitten's different pupil also because of chimerism?
Theoretically, chimeric kittens do have different pupils, but it is not the only possibility, because there are many reasons why kittens have different pupils.
For example, kittens are damaged by illness, injury or surgery, resulting in gradual decrease in melanin in the unilateral pupil, resulting in a different color of the pupil.
Take Venus for example, her heteroopia was not formed by gene chimerism.
It is a heterozygosity caused by heterochromia.
There are also kittens who are born with different pupils due to genetic inheritance.
These kittens usually prevent the melanin particles from reaching one side of the eye iris because of the dominant white gene or white spot gene during the cat's growth period, causing the eyes to appear blue.
Having said so much, simply put it: the heterozygote does not prove that the kitten is a chimera.
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chimeric kittens must have a "yin and yang face"?
is not actually! Most chimeras are invisible from the appearance.
Because it is possible that just a part of the body's DNA comes from "brothers" or "sisters".
What's more, there is another situation where the two cats forming the chimera happen to be the same color.
For example, if a white cat is chimeric with a white cat, it is all white anyway, who can tell it? Is
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chimerism a disease?
First, although chimeric kittens carry two groups of genes and have two immune systems, they are a complete and independent individual and are no different from other kittens.
Don't impose "strange" in human eyes on them.
To be honest, if you don’t understand the formation of chimera, many people will have natural prejudice against cats with strange colors.
Especially the older generation, they think these cats are "unlucky" and even think that these cats are sick...
and then abandon them.
Even the internet celebrity cat mentioned at the beginning, Venus, was once a stray cat abandoned on the farm.
In fact, chimeric cats are just a normal phenomenon in biological inheritance.
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Under what circumstances will a chimeric cat appear?
In recent years, with the rise of social media, especially short videos are popular. Chimeric kittens are very likely to become internet celebrities because of their extraordinary appearance and scarcity.
Someone must have wondered if he has the opportunity to raise a chimera kitten.
First of all, chimera is actually quite common among cats, because kittens generally have multiple births, and 8% of the chances of chimera appear for every litter of kittens.
Chimeric kittens are common, but kittens with "yin and yang faces" are not common.
In fact, for cat owners who really love cats, every kitten is unique, so why bother to care about how special it is?
Finally, I will give you some cold knowledge about cat chimerism.
Chimera cats are almost all homosexual chimera, and there are few opposite-sex chimera.
If there is a rare chimerism of the opposite sex like brothers and sisters, or sisters and younger brothers, it is impossible to have children.
Just like the three-game cat, even if it has balls, it is a natural eunuch.
Okay, have you gained knowledge after reading this article? If you encounter or have raised chimera kittens, the photos in the comment area will be revealed, which makes me envious.