IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
| Xu, X.; Luo, S.-J. | |
| How the white tiger lost its color, but kept its stripes | |
| 2014 Science China (57): 1041-1043 | |
The fantastic range of animal coloration is produced by pigment particles of colored material or microscopic structures in scales, bristles or feathers that give rise to brilliant iridescent colors. In mammals, except for a few exceptions involving nano- or micro-scale structural color (e.g., the blue faces of male baboons), fur color is determined by the pigment melanin. Melanin is synthesized and stored in melanosomes, a lysosomal organelle of melanocyte, and transferred to adjacent keratinocytes and hairs. There are two types of melanin: eumelanin (black to brown) and pheomelanin (red to yellow). The amount, ratio and distribution of eumelanin and pheomelanin in hair determine the coat color of an animal: everything from bright white to light cream to red to jet black. |
|
 |
PDF files are only accessible to Friends of the Cat Group. Joining Friends of the Cat Group gives you unlimited access and downloads in the Cat SG Library for one year, and allows you to receive our newsletter Cat News (2 regular issues per year plus special issues). More information how to join here |
(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union) |