# Spotted cats **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452 "2012-01-24T01:03:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/1 "2012-01-24T01:03:44Z")
There are several types of large cats that have spots. Did spots evolve independently in the various breeds, or was there a spotted cat that was a distant ancestor to today’s spotted cats? And what about small domestic cats that have spots (like [one of mine](http://www.flickr.com/photos/42009607@N00/6674593207/in/photostream))? Did their spots evolve independently? ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/2 "2012-01-24T01:20:56Z")
Awwww. We had a kitty very much like your baby. The picture reawakened memories of her. Your kitty is a tabby, and I think their spots “evolved” (or whatever spots do) from the striped tabby. My favorite spotted kitty is the Egyptian Mau. OMG, what a gorgeous cat! According to Wikipedia, they have a “naturally spotted coat.” [Egyptian Mau - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Mau) ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/3 "2012-01-24T01:46:55Z")
I wouldn’t be surprised if spots were the ancestral feline condition, since lions and cougars are born with spots that fade as they age. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/4 "2012-01-24T04:59:00Z")
Spotting is found in species in [most major lineages](http://sparkleberrysprings.com/v-web/b2/?p=445) in the family, and even species with non-spotted adults like lions and pumas have spotted cubs. This strongly suggests that spotting may be ancestral in the family. The unspotted species have probably lost the spotting present in their ancestors. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/5 "2012-01-24T06:08:28Z")
Here’s a picture that [suggests where some spotted cats](http://home.online.no/~rsvensse/catfun12.jpg) come from. (Die-hard SDMB junkies might notice that I posted this same pic in another thread earlier today, on a very different topic, but it was relevant there too.) ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/6 "2012-01-24T06:35:13Z")
From what I understand, there was a bit of convergent evolution taking place. Some big cats used to look like sun-flowers against a tarred fence; very easy to see. There is evidence that at the time they were somewhat domesticated by the peoples of east Africa as hunting companions, but the overall visibility was problematic. The theory goes that shortly after the native peoples began developing increased melanin in their skin, they recognized the usefulness of natural camouflage and started painting dots on the cats (some depictions of splotches and stripes have been found, but those seem to have quickly lost favour). Through selective breeding of natural variations in colouring the spots became a natural part of the the leopard’s coats and paint was no longer necessary. [Cite](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2781/2781-h/2781-h.htm#2H_4_0004). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/7 "2012-01-24T06:52:58Z")
Archer: Holy shit! You guys, look at his little spots! ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/8 "2012-01-24T06:58:21Z")
_J. D. Murray, How the leopard gets its spots, Scientific American, March 1988, p. 80_ pretty much covers a very intriguing idea. He shows how many animal patterns can be generated mathematically from the same basic mechanism (he terms reaction diffusion), by simply tweaking a couple of parameters many well known animal patterns can be generated, from single colour, freakish half and half and colours to stripes and spots. Cat patterns (including spots) seem rather well covered by the mechanism. The underlying (and I think very strong) implication is that this mechanism evolved a long time ago, and variations in colouring and patterns are able to evolve very quickly as variations can occur with only small changes to the determining (genetic) parameters, and these parameters are probably concentrated in only a few genes. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/9 "2012-01-24T11:55:48Z")
I’m surprised at all of you. Rudyard Kipling explained [How the Leopard Got His Spots](http://sff.net/people/karawynn/justso/leopard.htp) over a hundred years ago. Haven’t you ever Kipled? The Just So stories were often requested as bedtime reading when my daughter was young enough to be read to. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/10 "2012-01-24T15:08:54Z")
Psst. Lynn. Post #6. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/11 "2012-01-24T17:32:28Z")
Dammit. ---
**Author:** ![pdunderhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4bbf92/32.png) [@pdunderhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pdunderhill)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/12 "2012-01-24T18:22:08Z")
Well if you want the long explanation look to Alan Turing, the Inventor of the electronic programable computer: [Google](http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&safe=off&source=hp&q=wiki+alan+turing+animal+colour&pbx=1&oq=wiki+alan+turing+animal+colour&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=4377l12596l0l15847l14l14l0l0l0l1l4382l16773l8-1.4l6l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=93129c4620f93dfb&biw=1920&bih=948) Sorry still don’t know how to turn that into a hyper-link. Anyway talking about Cats in particular, His Highness Billy, from a long line of spotted Black and White felines, says it’s not that Cats have variegated coats it’s that humans are too uniform! Written with permission of his Serene Miaow, via Peter, Billy ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/13 "2012-01-24T20:11:19Z")
> [@pdunderhill](#): > > . . . it’s not that Cats have variegated coats it’s that humans are too uniform! Yes, but as we grow older and wiser, we try to emulate them, by acquiring liver spots. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotted-cats/610452/14 "2012-01-24T22:32:55Z")
Yes, I had forgotten that it was Alan Turning who was the progenitor of the reaction diffusion mechanism. A quick summary can be found [here](http://www.popmath.org.uk/rpamaths/rpampages/leopard.html), including a few references.