Approximately 80% of orange cats are males, including the four orange cats owned by the Short Wave team. Scientists have long suspected that orange color was a sex-linked trait — hiding somewhere on the X chromosome. Now, scientists at Stanford University and Kyushu University in Japan have characterized the mutation responsible for orange cat coloration. Both groups published their results in the journal Cell Biology this week. Have a question about the animals all around us? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy