[Leafpool sleeps beside the Moonpool]

Top 7 Genetic Inconsistencies in Warriors Shimmerfeather

leafpool

Shimmerfeather explains why Warriors is definitely fictional

DISCLAIMER: Please do not bash on me for being ‘too nitpicky’ or ‘but warriors isn’t supposed to be realistic because cats can’t talk or form civilised communities!’ or send me the link to that Moonkitti video because I have already seen it and it won’t help. Plus, these are my views and I am not forcing you to believe these either. I’m just stating facts for fun, and even I have made so many mistakes in cat genetics!

IN ORDER

Random Note: Props to the Warriors Wiki for drawing for drawing all their ginger and cream cats with stripes. Fun fact: all ginger/red cats have stripes, although they might not be a true tabby, they will always have stripes. Same goes for cream, as cream is the dilute version of red.

7. Snowfur

Okay, so Snowfur has around 95% white spotting or so, not 100% because of her dark grey ear-tips obviously. And Moonflower and Stormtail, her parents, have no visible white spotting. Even if they carried it under their coats, I doubt it would be brought out in their daughter.

6. Leafpool

To be honest, as soon as I was introduced to Leafpool, I thought she was a tortoiseshell. Why? Because that’s genetically correct. Female kittens in litters fathered by a ginger/red/orange tom (like Firestar) are typically ginger or tortoiseshell (which would make Squirrelflight okay, but she’s somehow a long-hair even though her parents and sister are short-hairs). Nowhere in that does it say brown tabby with white spotting! I know that she could’ve gotten her looks from her grandmother, Nutmeg, or her aunt, Princess (Princess doesn’t make much sense either), but cats get their genetics from immediate family. Also, doesn’t a tortoiseshell coat suit her name better? I know she was named after Leafstar and Spottedleaf, but if she was named after her looks – a brown cat – then her fur reminded Firestar and Sandstorm of a decaying leaf. At least tortoiseshell patterns have red, so the ‘Leaf-‘ prefix would make sense because the red patches would be like autumn leaves. Plus, I’m not a genius on cat eye colour genetics, but shouldn’t Leafpool have GREEN eyes? Her parents and sister have green eyes, and once again, her eyes would be like summer/spring leaves!

5. The Three (Jayfeather, Hollyleaf and Lionblaze)

Let’s start with Jayfeather. First of all, I’m curious on what mutation happened to cause his blindness, because apparently it was from ‘genetics’. Also, take note of this: Jayfeather is a grey tabby with blue eyes and he doesn’t have a SCRAP of white on his body. Grey tabbies can’t have blue eyes without white spotting! IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE BUT IT’S VERY, VERY UNLIKELY! Just saying. Next is Lionblaze, who is ridiculously unrealistic considering his parents are both short-hairs; Lionblaze is a long-hair! And even worse, has a RUFF OF LONGER HAIR AROUND HIS NECK LIKE A LION’S MANE! Also, he’s ginger! How does that work? Hollyleaf is alright, even though she’s depicted as a long-hair when she should be a short-hair. I suppose her black fur and green eyes make sense: blue + yellow = green. She should honestly be a short-hair! Not a long-hair like she’s described!

4. Blossomfall

First of all, let me say that I think Blossomfall is the most whiny, ungrateful, most annoying brat to have ever graced – no, RUINED a published Warriors book. Her genetics? Somehow worse. Listen here: she’s a tortoiseshell and her parents, Greystripe and Millie, DO NOT carry the red gene! Tortoiseshells can’t be born without a damn red gene! I’m not sure if she could still be a tortie if the couple carried it under their coats (maybe they can’t), but then again, Grey and Millie have Briarlight, A DARK BROWN CAT!

3. Redtail

All you need to know is he’s a tortoiseshell tom. Okay, don’t get me wrong, I KNOW that tortoiseshell toms aren’t impossible, I know they’re very real but they’re also very unlikely. Also, most male torties are typically sterile, meaning they can’t reproduce, but yay! Due to the powers of StarClan, Sandstorm was born to REDTAIL! But then again, not all tortie toms are sterile, but they do have general health problems and are weaker than the regular cat. And apparently Redtail was Bluestar’s deputy for ‘many moons’. How did he survive that long?! A tortie tom kittypet wouldn’t survive very long! And he’s a wild cat, so the circumstances are worse! (Seriously, every-time he’s introduced into a Field Guide he always seems sick. Battles of the Clan – Redtail has a bellyache. Code of the Clans – Redtail has whitecough. Just think about that…)

2. Spiderleg

THIS NEEDS NO EXPLANATION! CATS CAN’T HAVE BROWN UNDERBELLIES, THEY JUST CAN’T!

Honourable Mentions:
Heatherstar – I guess she’s okay, but why not use the term ‘lilac’ instead?!
Petal – She’s a YELLOW cat. Cream would work better
Ruby – Like I said earlier, female kittens in a litter fathered by a ginger/red tom (like Jake, because he’s the father of Ruby), the kits will either be GINGER or TORTOISESHELL.

That’s it because there are so many genetic warps in the series.

1. Clear Sky, Storm and Thunder

UGHHHHHH. THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS WRONG WITH THIS! Let’s start with Clear Sky. First of all, he’s grey with blue eyes – NO WHITE – very, very unlikely. And you might argue with “but he has white splashes on his feet!” no, dear, that’s how he is drawn. He has never been described with white splashes on his feet. I personally don’t understand the white splashes on Clear Sky’s paw thing, but I guess the word ‘Sky’ makes artists think of clouds so they draw a cloud pattern, even though his name is CLEAR Sky, and clear skies don’t have clouds, which is why it’s called a clear sky. And Storm is a grey cat with more silver thrown in, and she’s a classic tabby. Note: They are both long-hairs. So SOMEHOW, they produce a GINGER (TICKED TABBY STRIPES) AND WHITE CAT WITH AMBER EYES AND SHORT FUR! HOW DOES THAT WORK?! HOOOOOWWWWWWWW?!

And that’s it. My complaints on cat genetics in fictional books. 🙂

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64 comments

  • Another note – Spiderleg and Redtail could be chimeras, essentially two cats who fused before birth. Spiderleg could be a chimera of a brown and black cat while Redtail could be a black and ginger cat (or whatever his coloring is)

  • I find it weird how you’re listing genetic inconsistencies when you don’t even know how cat eye color works. You’ve figured out that blue eyes need white fur but nothing about the other colors.

    Let’s take Leafpool for example. Let’s say she’s actually a tortoiseshell tabby (brown tabby and orange). It’d be much more likely for her to have Amber eyes than green eyes, because brown cats often have Amber eyes. (Eye color is directly related to coat color unless they’re specifically bred to have a certain eye color or there is a mutation). The parents’ eye colors have nothing to do with it.

    Not only are Hollyleaf’s eyes strange, her father’s eyes are impossible. A cat cannot have blue eyes if they don’t have at least some white fur. He should have Amber eyes or a white chest or something. Cat eyes don’t mix like paint. So Crowfeathers blue eyes + Leafpool’s Amber eyes does not equal green eyes for Hollyleaf, though I’m sure that’s what the Erins were thinking.

    Briarlight is slightly more possible than Blossomfall because gray is dilute black and brown tabby is actually black with the tabby Gene. So her parents could have passed on the black Gene but not the dilute. Blossomfall does not make sense though, unless Millie is actually a smoke dilute tortoiseshell or something.

    As stated by other commenters, Redtail is most likely a Chimera and only looks like a tortoiseshell.

    • Crowfeather could have Ojos Azules, though those have to be bred. Kittypet ancestry is possible, though. Ojos Azules is dominant and could have been brought into the Clan. Similar eye colors have also been found in mutations, so it’s possible for Crowfeather to have an unusual gene, which he then passed on to Jayfeather.

  • I’m sorry, but this is bothering me. I’m a nerd with genetics, and with eye color, blue + yellow = green is not true. Where did you get the blue from?This may not be true with cats, but in humans the only way that is possible is if BOTH PARENTS carry a green gene. Not only that, but cat eye colors are directly related to what color and design the cat is.
    (http://i.stack.imgur.com/m4Dl8.jpg. Black cats can have green eyes, no matter the parents. They can’t have blue eyes though. And Lionblaze got tabby from Leafpool and it’s possible she has ginger under her coat, hence why she was only a brown tabby).
    And also, please don’t cuss here. It might’ve not been on purpous or the mods can’t or forgot to edit it out, but this is a kid friendly place and it makes it easier if you just never do it in the first place.

    • Ginger can’t be recessive, it’s a dominant gene who cover everything except the white.
      If a cat have the red gene, it would be on his coat at least with a tortie color.

  • So recessive traits are a thing. For leafpool, the brown tabby/white could’ve been carried by firestar from nutmeg and presented itself in leafpool. For blossomfall, we don’t know any of Millie’s lineage. One of her parents couldve been ginger for all you know. For jayfeather, blue eyes means a lack of melanin in their irises, but, except in the cases of white cats, the lack of melanin does not necessarily determine fur color. Willowbreeze, Silverstream, and Feathertail all fit this description too.

  • https://imgur.com/gallery/pACRDCl

    Considering that this looks *not* photo-shopped, and that he has white patches, I would love to see an au where Crowfeather just has a cute white patch on his chest or something. Or maybe a patch on his belly, so that most only see him as a jet black cat with blue eyes. Would certainly sit well with me that way rather than a straight-up black cat with blue eyes.