Why do domestic cats have white paws?

If you see a domestic cat, the high rate is that it will have white paws. But this detail is rarely seen on the paws of domestic cats, the animals related to domestic cats.

The white paws of cats are often likened to socks. So why do domestic cats often have "socks", and wild cats do not?

Turns out, this story originated 10,000 years ago, when humans started raising cats. Leslie Lyons, head of the Feline Genetics Laboratory at the University of Missouri, says domesticated cats have led to their own white paws.

The white "sock" on the foot is one of the distinguishing features between domestic and domestic cats.(Photo: AP).

'When humans start farming, they need a place to store lots of grains. However, this attracted the attention of rodents such as mice. As a result, humans need domesticated cats so they can catch rats. In the process, cats also have more opportunities to hunt , ' Lyons said.

Felis Silvestris , a wild cat from Africa and Eurasia, was one of the first domesticated cats. They grow up in the natural environment and are threatened by many dangers, so these cats were born with special hair colors to survive in the wild.

But not all F. Silvestris cats are born with their fur blending with their environment.'Genetic mutations have been happening all the time,' Mr. Lyons explained.

There is not much evidence to explain why humans chose these cats to be purebred, but Lyons said it is likely that our ancestors favored cats with white paws because they would look more prominent. .

Illustrations from a thousand years ago show that domestic cats often have white paws.(Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Special colors and signs appear when cat embryos are developing. Cat color hair cells will appear for the first time in the form of neural crest cells. After that, the cells will move slowly along and around the body.

If those cells move far enough, the embryo will give birth to a plain colored cat, for example all black or orange. On the contrary, if they cannot be combined, the embryo will give birth to a cat with white paws, chest, stomach and face.

So, the next time you see a cat with white paws, it's a result of genetic mutation and domestication.

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