Photo by Gossamer1013
The cat above is a boy cat of the Balinese cat breed. I am not sure if he’s pedigree/purebred/retiree. He is definitely of a traditional appearance and he has darkened up it seems (due to age?). I also know the photographer is highly amusing.
This page about the Balinese cat breed concerns a quick look at genetics. To see a full description with the best photographs try this page: Balinese cat. The genes that give the Balinese long hair are the same as those found in the Javanese cat.
Both the Balinese and Javanese are longhaired versions of the Siamese cat, specifically the more contemporary Siamese cat (more slender), although there is a traditional Balinese as well. There is also a very popular Traditional Siamese cat, which on my reckoning is more popular by far than the Modern Siamese.
Back to the Balinese cat breed and genetics. Both names are very nice and there is no relationship between these cats and the country after which the breeds are named. Except that both Java and Bali are islands of Indonesia and both are in the region of Thailand formerly Siam . They are slightly exotic names essentially and all linked geographically. A nice marketing idea.
The basic genotype for this breed is: cscsll, where cs represents the recessive gene that produces the Siamese pattern. Being recessive it needs to be homozygous at the position on the chromosome (i.e. a pair). And l represents the recessive longhaired gene that is also homozygous in order to make its presence apparent in terms of actual long hair (appearance or phenotype).
The recessive gene cs is one of a series of genes at what is called the “albino locus“. Other genes are added to the basic genotype to create different color coats. The genotype for seal point (the classic pointing as far as I am concerned – see cat coats pointed) is aacscsll, where aa represents the recessive non-agouti gene in homozygous form, producing self black (this means black).
When the black is diluted the result is a blue point Balinese. The genotype is: aacscsddll, where dd represents a recessive gene that dilutes color in homozygous form. When black is diluted it creates blue/grey. A classic blue cat is, for example, the Russian Blue. See also cat coats dilution.
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