The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Chimera Cat The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Chimera Cat
Showing posts with label Chimera Cat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chimera Cat. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Meet Venus, The Beautiful Chimera Cat with a Two-Toned Face and Different Colored Eyes


Venus and her owner, Christina, appeared on Fox and Friends this morning. Since she's an Internet sensation, fans of the "two-faced" feline can actually buy a plush toy of her.

Her owner explained that she and her husband fell in love with Venus after coming across a picture on Facebook. Venus had been a stray and was living on a North Carolina dairy farm.

One of the theories behind the striking look is that Venus is her own twin. Christina said she has not taken Venus for DNA tests, adding she will only if it's medically necessary. And yes, Venus has a lot of fans, including more than 222,000 on her own Facebook page. She even posted a selfie from her New York City hotel after the interview.

















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Sunday, October 12, 2014

Venus the Two-Faced Cat a Mystery: Famous Feline May Have Different DNA on Each Side of Her Body


The three-year-old tortoiseshell has her own Facebook page and a YouTube video that's been viewed over a million times, and appeared on the Today Show.

One look at this cat and you can understand why: One half is solid black with a green eye—the other half has typical orange tabby stripes and a blue eye.

How does a cat end up looking like that? Leslie Lyons, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who studies the genetics of domestic cats said she's never seen a cat exactly like Venus.

"She is extremely, extremely rare," Lyons said. "But you can explain it and you can understand it."

Is Venus a Chimera?

Many reports about Venus refer to the cat as a "chimera." In mythology, a chimera is a mishmash monster made up of parts of different animals. A feline chimera is a cat whose cells contain two types of DNA, caused when two embryos fuse together.

Among cats, "chimeras are really not all that rare," Lyons said. In fact, most male tortoiseshell cats are chimeras. The distinctively mottled orange and black coat is a sign that the cat has an extra X chromosome.

But female cats, said Lyons, already have two X chromosomes so they can sport that coat without the extra X. That means Venus is not necessarily a chimera.

To find out would require generic testing, said Lyons. With samples of skin from each side of the cat, "we can do a DNA fingerprint—just like on CSI—and the DNA from one side of the body should be different than the other."

If Venus isn't actually a chimera, then what would explain her amazing face?

"Absolute luck," Lyons said. One theory: perhaps the black coloration was randomly activated in all the cells on one side of her face, while the orange coloration was activated on the other, and the two patches met at the midline of her body as she developed.

Cat fanciers who are transfixed by Venus's split face may be missing the real story: her single blue eye. Cat eyes are typically green or yellow, not blue.  A blue-eyed cat is typically a Siamese or else a cat with "a lot of white on them," she explained.

Venus appears to have only a white patch on her chest, which to Lyons is not enough to explain the blue eye.

"She is a bit of a mystery."

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Thursday, July 10, 2014

Venus the Amazing Chimera Cat with a Two-Toned Face and Different Colored Eyes - Becomes Internet Sensation!


Venus the Amazing Chimera cat has a two-toned face with different colored eyes.

The cat and her owner, Christina, appeared on Fox and Friends this morning. Since she's an Internet sensation, fans of the "two-faced" feline can actually buy a plush toy of Venus.

Her owner explained that she and her husband fell in love with Venus after coming across a picture on Facebook. Venus had been a stray and was living on a North Carolina dairy farm.

One of the theories behind the striking look is that Venus is her own twin. Christina said she has not taken Venus for DNA tests, adding she will only if it's medically necessary. And yes, Venus has a lot of fans, including more than 222,000 on her own Facebook page. She even posted a selfie from her New York City hotel after the interview.



The Two-Faced Cat, Venus Goes Viral by GeoBeats




On Facebook: Venus the amazing 'two-faced' cat
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Venus-the-amazing-two-faced-cat/1499358613634057

From: Snopes.com
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/chimeracat.asp





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