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Daniel Ausema
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  		   Posted 6/4/2007 5:46 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
This is rather random, but...what do you know about the nature of spots and stripes on animals? Any veterinarians or zoo workers frequent this forum?

I'm pretty sure I've heard before (though it could be wrong information) that the spots on a leopard have nothing to do with different colored fur, but are actually simply a different color to the skin underneath. Is this true? And is it true for other spotted animals (cheetahs?) or striped animals (zebras?) or both (hyenas?)? Giraffes? Dogs and cats? I grew up with a seemingly endless succession of cats and kittens, so I'm pretty sure that those with multiple colors simply had differently colored fur...but I never shaved one to see if the skin varied in any way along with that, and the last several cats I remember before I left home were all one-colored. Any information tied with this would interest me--genetic influences (I seem to remember some connection with sex-linked genes and calico cats), whatever.

Thanks! :)

Twigs and Brambles (my writing blog)

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Sister Coyote
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  		   Posted 6/4/2007 6:08 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
It is true of some breeds of dog that the color of their skin beneath the fur differs depending on the color of the fur; my folks had a white dog with brown spots whose skin was also brown-spotted.

Also, it appears to be true for paint horses, though I can't speak to that with the same authority. I have seen a horsehide drum made from a piebald horse, and the hide was mottled like the fur would have been.
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crystalwizard
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  		   Posted 6/4/2007 6:40 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
my cat injured it's leg and had the hair shaved off for a while. the sky was solid flesh color. My cat was a red tabby. it didn't have stripes on the sky.

I think you're going to find that each type of animal is constructed differently. some will have skin that reflects the patterns of the fur and some won't.

======
Polar bears are the largest land carnivore. Adapted for the cold, polar bears have a thick fur coat that appears white in coloration, but is really translucent. Their black skin color is readily apparent on the nose, eyes, lips and footpads.

=========
Tigers are the heaviest cats found in the wild.[8] Although different subspecies of tiger have different characteristics, in general male tigers weigh between 200 and 320 kilograms (440 and 700 lb) and females between 120 and 181 kg (265 and 400 lb). On average, males are between 2.6 and 3.3 metres (8 ft 6 in to 10 ft 8 in) in total length, and females are from nose to tip of tail between 2.3 and 2.75 metres (7 ft 6 in and 9 ft) in length. Of the living subspecies, Sumatran tigers are the smallest, and Amur (or Siberian) tigers are the largest.

Most tigers have orange coats, a fair (whitish) medial and ventral area and stripes that vary from brown or hay to pure black. The form and density of stripes differs between subspecies, but most tigers have in excess of 100 stripes. The now-extinct Javan tiger may have had far more than this.[citation needed] The pattern of stripes is unique to each animal, and thus could potentially be used to identify individuals, much in the same way as fingerprints are used to identify people. This is not, however, a preferred method of identification, due to the difficulty of recording the stripe pattern of a wild tiger. It seems likely that the function of stripes is camouflage, serving to hide these animals from their prey. The stripe pattern is found on a tiger's skin and if shaved, its distinctive camouflage pattern would be preserved.

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BarbT
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  		   Posted 6/4/2007 7:20 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
That's true about paint horses, and about any white markings on a horse.  Areas that have white hair also have pink skin beneath* and will sunburn where the hair is thin.  Horses with dark lower legs have dark hooves, those with white or blotched "socks" have flesh colored or striped hooves.
 
Don't know about zebras. :)
 
-Barb
 
*White horses with dark eyes weren't born white, they were born bay or chestnut (or whatever) and turned gray, then white, as they aged.  These horses have dark skin everywhere they originally had colored hair.
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STForstner
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  		   Posted 6/4/2007 7:38 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I seem to recall reading that the markings on a siamese cat are determined by body temperature over the first few days of the kitten's life. Change the temperature and change the color.

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Daniel Ausema
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  		   Posted 6/4/2007 9:41 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Thanks for all the replies so far! That tiger description seems to match what I remember about leopards, and good to know that about horses--I'd guess that zebras are similar, though maybe not.
STForstner said...
Change the temperature and change the color.

That's fascinating--cool.

Twigs and Brambles (my writing blog)

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Daniel Arenson
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  		   Posted 6/10/2007 7:18 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
My gf's dog has black fur and white fur. We've never seen her skin; she's too poofy.

Daniel

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crystalwizard
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  		   Posted 6/10/2007 8:31 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
when my red tabby got his leg hurt, the vet had to shave the area. When his fur grew back, for a little while it was dark in that area then eventually it turned back to normal red tabby cat fur. I have no idea why.

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ScrewMoonshine
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  		   Posted 6/11/2007 11:40 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Assuming that it turned back to red tabby while it was still growing back: Maybe the fur is darker at the tips than at the base?

Robert Orme

Out now:
"On the Tree Top" in Ultraverse vol.3 #5 (www.ultraverse.us)
"The Scab, the Man, and the I.V." in Mount Zion Speculative Fiction Review #3 (www.mountzionpress.com)
"And Afterward" and "Candy Lover" in Flashshot, April 30 and May 23 (www.gwthomas.org/flashshotindex.htm)

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Firlefanz
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  		   Posted 6/12/2007 5:07 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I can't find any source for this at the moment, but I seem to remember that both spots and stripes on tigers and leopards (and other striped or spotted animals) go back to a rather simple genetic system. Somehow the colors are spread over the animal's body in a regular pattern while it develops as a foetus.

I'll keep looking. *chinrubs*

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Hannah Steenbock

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Rob Santa
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  		   Posted 6/12/2007 8:59 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
All I can tell you is the skin underneath my black and gray hair is uniform in color. :-)


Rob Santa
Hopelessly Addicted Writer of Speculative Fiction
and CEO of Ricasso Press

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ScrewMoonshine
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  		   Posted 6/12/2007 10:21 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Rob Santa said...
All I can tell you is the skin underneath my black and gray hair is uniform in color. :-)


Something you learned in your college fraternity days, I take it? :p

Robert Orme
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Daniel Ausema
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  		   Posted 6/14/2007 5:16 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Ah, there's been a bunch more answers to this that I missed--many thanks, everyone! It's all helpful (except maybe the color of Rob's skin... :p )

Twigs and Brambles (my writing blog)

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