Have you ever wondered? Being the owner of the cattery, I've been asked this question countless times when people wanted to take a Scottish Fold kitten in Rostov. That really makes people wonder: both breeders with short hair give birth to the kittens with long hair for some inexplicable reason.
Sometimes doubts occur if the breeders are their parents. Or the cattery owner is lying. There is no guile, everything is very simple and understandable if you know the basics of genetics.
Origin of the Highlands
The ancient mutation is to be blamed for everything. That mutation resulted in appearing of the feline representatives that were covered with a thicker and fluffier fur coat. First, they appeared on the territory of modern Russia, apparently for protecting against the cold, and then they spread to the territory of Turkey and Iran. Thus Siberian, Persian, and Angora cats evolved. New breeds, created on the basis of mutations or crossbreeding, received their long hair from those natives who participated in their origin and development. The Longhair Scottish Fold received its unusual silky fur coat from the same Persians. It has become a separate breed with its own standard in the international WCF system.
Currently, there is a theory that the L / l gene (responsible for the length of the coat) isn't one, but there're several of them, and that's the reason of a Maine Coon having a different hair length in comparison with a Persian cat. Yet, it remains just a theory that hasn't been proved.
Breeder's equation
But let’s stick to our topic; So the gene L (responsible for short hair) is dominant, and gene l (responsible for long hair) is recessive, on the contrary. Therefore, for getting Highlands a set of ll should be present (one inherited from the first parent, the other from the second one). And for the dominant (suppressive) presence of one is enough, from any of the cat parents.
Now let's have a look at what kind of options there might be: both animals are Highlands, i.e. they have the formula ll in their genotype, and they will pass it on to their children in the same way. Hence the conclusion comes: this pair cannot have offspring with short hair.
If a mom (or dad) carries ll, and the other parent has LL in the genome, No matter how hard you try, they will only give birth to kittens in an ordinary fur coat. The point is that they'll take both l and L, so it will turn into Ll, and no other options will be left.
But if the formula is Ll, then these are representatives of the short-haired species, but they carry the gene for long hair. These kind of couples can give birth to fluffy kittens. If you want to purchase a Scottish Fold with such a set of genes, you need to find out if one of the parents is longhaired.
We have revealed the "secret" and removed the veil from this interesting question. Everything turned out to be much simpler and clearer. Breeders use this knowledge professionally in order to create breeding programs and get the desired offspring from their animals. Dear lovers of Scottish, if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask them so as the themes of my articles can be useful for you. Thus, you can expand your horizons and learn more about your pets.
