This Safari cat is “melanistic”. A “melanistic” cat is one where the color of his/her hair has become black or nearly black due to an increase in the amount of a chemical called melanin in the cat. In an albino cat the opposite situation has occured. Changes (mutations) in the Agouti gene is the driving force behind the increase in melanin. Lots of cats and other animals have this condition. It seems though that not a lot is known about how it exactly occurs.
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| Photograph of Melanistic Safari Cat copyright Bion Kirk Jungle Mountain Exotics
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Source:
- Wikipedia
- http://web.archive.org/web/20120130104815/http://pharyngula.org:80/
