Do Black Cats Have Stripes? 2 Amazing Facts

It is now known that some black cats may in fact be Tabby Cats in disguise with a ghost-like striped pattern hidden away in their coats.

The Science

New research into domestic cats is continuos and some of the new discoveries are fascinating.

The understanding of what a black cat is has dramatically changed over the decades.

For a cat to have a black appearance, both of the cat’s parents have to have the black color gene.

This gene is called an allele and to create the color black it’s known as B.

The most dominant cat fur pattern type is Tabby and for the Tabby gene to remain suppressed another recessive gene has to be present.

This gene is know as a non-agouti (a).

I have written more on black cat genetics here…

If the agouti gene wins the battle and is the dominant gene, the kitty will be a Tabby.

Do Black Cats Have Stripes?

Well, a black cat that has the Tabby Cat gene may have stripes that are visible only in bright light.

They appear as a ghost-like pattern that is just about visible.

We have an American Shorthair called Coco and to our amazement, when he was still a kitten he had a big stretch in the sunlight and we noticed stripes on his back legs!

They look a lot like zebra stripes and they are quite thick from his hips down.

Seeing him in the sunlight like that also brought to our attention just how brown Coco is.

He’s not black at all really, in fact a lot of his body is a reddy-brown color.

I think this highlights just how complex fur is and the properties and purposes that it has.

At that point we were surprised by this but we didn’t do any research into it.

Writing for this blog gives me the opportunity to research and dig deeper into all aspects of our furry friends.

Where will you see the stripes?

It’s common to see these ghost stripes on the legs, the tail, and possibly on the top of the cat’s head.

But remember they may only be visible in the brightest of sunlight at certain angles.

Black Panthers

Do black cats have stripes? Yes, and big black cats may have a similar story to tell too…

Did you know that the same science that is talked about in this article, applies to black panthers too?

Black panthers still have faint spots throughout their coats that can be seen from certain angles in bright light.

Does this apply to other animals I wonder…?

Actually Seeing the Stripes

As I mentioned above, it may be tricky to see the stripes, and to be honest I’ve only seen them a few times on Coco.

Coco is 3 years old at the time of writing this and at that time, seeing his stripes has been rare.

If you know anything about photography, you may know that black cats are notoriously hard to photograph due to problems with exposure.

Using a DSLR you often end up with an overexposed image due to the contrast between the dark fur and a light-colored background.

There may be a silver lining to this though…

An overexposed image of your black cat may reveal your cat’s ghost stripes!

My Thoughts

I find the subject of black cats and what makes them black fascinating.

There’s so much science involved on a genetic level and more to be discovered.

When I realized that Coco was in fact a Tabby in disguise, I must admit, I now look at him differently.

I like to look at his black fur as a sort of suit of armor as the black fur is thought to have many survival of the fittest properties on a genetic level.

Does a black cat’s coloration make them better hunters?

There are also suggestions that black cats have a better chance at fighting off illness due to having such strong genes.

What I do know is that I’ll never get bored talking about black cats.

Summary

Do black cats have stripes? Yes, some do and it’s due to them being Tabby Cats in disguise.

The stripes on our black cat’s coat are zebra-like and can be seen in bright daylight on his rear legs.

Stripes may be visible on a black cat’s tail, legs and face.

Good luck seeing them as they can be very hard to spot indeed…

For more black cat content check out the My Mini Panther Facebook page.