do blue/grey cats coats color provide any advantages in the wild?

diamond · Sep 22, 2014

I love blue/grey cats. I have read about the russian blue breed and it is thought that russian blues were breed from blue cats that were native in asia/russia. I know many cats look they way they do only because of selective breeding by people .

Do u guys think that blue cats developed their color naturally as an adaptation or do u think blue cats are only blue because of human selective breeding? Just like black cats have an advantage at night and tabbies have advantages in daytime I wonder if blue has an advantage as well.

I have seen blue cats that are very wild and aggresive and big in my area and I feel like they are actual wild cats but capable of being tamed and domesticated just like any other cat.

Any theories?

Anne · Sep 23, 2014

Diamond said:
I love blue/grey cats. I have read about the russian blue breed and it is thought that russian blues were breed from blue cats that were native in asia/russia. I know many cats look they way they do only because of selective breeding by people .

Do u guys think that blue cats developed their color naturally as an adaptation or do u think blue cats are only blue because of human selective breeding? Just like black cats have an advantage at night and tabbies have advantages in daytime I wonder if blue has an advantage as well.

I have seen blue cats that are very wild and aggresive and big in my area and I feel like they are actual wild cats but capable of being tamed and domesticated just like any other cat.

Any theories?

That's a very interesting question.

I can't think of any advantage for the blue color. I also can't think of any naturally-occurring blue wild cat? I'm not an expert, but as far as I know, the blue coat color is a diluted version of black. The diluting gene is what makes a red tabby cream too. I think it's a mutation that happened after cats were domesticated, or at least it managed to survive and get passed on only with domesticated cats that didn't have to rely on hunting or hiding from predators.

Willowy · Sep 23, 2014

I've heard that brown tabbies and tortoiseshells have an advantage because their broken patterns distract the eye of a predator so he can't get a good fix on their location. If you see a tortie or tabby sitting in the shade under a bush you know that's true! I guess a blue cat would do OK in the wild, too, because he could hide in a shady area. I don't think it's any special kind of adaptation though. The smaller true wild cats (bobcats, lynx, the Asian or African wildcats, etc.) are all tabbies.

StefanZ · Sep 23, 2014

I agree. Theoretically, blue (=gray) should be OK and even an advantage in many situations, a sort of natural and neutral camouflage. Compare with soldiers uniforms where grey or a very weak blue were excellent camouflage colors before the patched modern cammo become common in field.

But in practice, there are no or very few natural, wild living cat species who are blue. So, no disadvantage, but no real advantage either, and some others are even better.

diamond · Sep 24, 2014

You all make very good points. I was thinking maybe the blue/grey coat color has an advantage at night just like black cats.

If some areas are not dark enough maybe a black cat would stick out like a sore thumb but a grey cat would maybe blend in perfectly because grey is light but can get darker based on the level of darkness around it. Where as black starts out black and cant really adapt to the level of darkness around it.

So my conclusion is grey may have an advantage because it can adapt to the level of darkness around it at night while black cant.

U think that makes sense?

do blue/grey cats coats color provide any advantages in the wild?

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