Tortoiseshell cat
Two-color coat coloring in cats / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Tortoiseshell is a cat coat coloring named for its similarity to tortoiseshell pattern. Like tortoiseshell-and-white or calico cats, tortoiseshell cats are almost exclusively female.[1][2][3][4] Male tortoiseshells are rare and are usually sterile.[lower-alpha 1][6][4]
Tortoiseshell cats, or torties, combine two colors other than white, either closely mixed or in larger patches.[2] The colors are often described as red and black, but the "red" patches can instead be orange, yellow, or cream,[2] and the "black" can instead be chocolate, gray, tabby, or blue.[2] Tortoiseshell cats with the tabby pattern as one of their colors are sometimes referred to as torbies or torbie cats.[7]
"Tortoiseshell" is typically reserved for multicolored cats with relatively small or no white markings. Those that are predominantly white with tortoiseshell patches are described as tricolor,[2] tortoiseshell-and-white, or calico (in Canada and the United States).[8]
Tortoiseshell markings appear in many different breeds, as well as in non-purebred domestic cats.[8] This pattern is especially preferred in the Japanese Bobtail breed,[9] and exists in the Cornish Rex group.[10]