

Flamecloud analyses Bramblestar’s family tree
Heyo Blogclan! Today, your local Earthling is throwing more genetic mumbo jumbo at you because she is bored and does not want to do her math homework!
Anyway, the last article I did on genetics was about Leafpool and Squirrelflight. Today, I am going to go over Brambleclaw/starβs family tree so that we can also look at Alderheart and Sparkpelt!
To learn more about cat genetics, check out my first genetics article or do some research on your own time, because genetics are cool!
Also, genetics can be a tricky topic. I first learned about these concepts when I was 11, and failed completely. I came back to them when I was 12/13, and thatβs when I finally figured them out. However, that is because I am a NERD. As in, I spend at least an hour a week making genetically correct cat farms out of paper and correcting genetically incorrect family trees for fun. So, yep, after 2.5ish years of complete nerdiness, I should probably be decent at this. However, if you do not quite understand, thatβs 100% okay.
Anyway, back to the fun stuff!
As with previous articles, I will be tracing Bramblestarβs family tree as far back as it will go, starting with his motherβs side.
Hereβs the path I took for this first one, to figure out Goldenflowerβs coloring. Bramblestar–>Goldenflower–>Speckletail–>Harepounce and Stagleap.
The first step is to figure out if Speckletail is genetically possible. She is described as a βPale golden tabby she catβ. Now, that is not a scientific term, but what I picture for that description is a cream tabby. So weβre trying to see if Speckletail can be a cream tabby.
Cream is the combination of the recessive diluting gene and the fancy co-dominant, sex-linked ginger gene. (Check out previous articles on how those genes work if you would like).
For her to have a ginger gene, one of her parents must carry at least one copy of the ginger gene. Since it is not recessive, that will be visible in their coat patterns.
However, Stagleap is a grey tabby and Harepounce is brown. So, she can not have ginger.
Stagleap, as a grey tom, has to carry 2 copies of the diluting gene. This means that Speckletail definitely got one copy from him. And, since we can not prove that Harepounce doesnβt carry a copy of it, weβre going to say that it is possible for Speckletail to carry the dilute.
And, lastly, her tabby markings. As I have said in my other articles, tabby is controlled by more than one gene. But since Stagleap has the dominant βagoutiβ gene, it is possible for her to be a tabby.
In conclusion: Speckletail is actually a grey tabby she cat.
Smallear is a grey tom with no known parentage, so we are going to say he is genetically correct.
Now, letβs test Goldenflower, knowing her parents are a grey cat and a grey tabby cat.
Goldenflower is described as a pale golden she cat, so in official cat color language, cream.
Even if Speckletail had been a cream, it still would only be possible for Goldenflower to be a dilute tortie (See 1sr article for explanation). However, Speckletail is actually a grey tabby, so Goldenflower can not be cream, since neither parent carries ginger.
That makes Goldenflower just a grey cat, since her description mentions nothing of tabby stripes and she can not be a ginger. (Note: it is not actually possible to tell a genetically ginger tabby from a non-tabby ginger, since both will have stripes. However, for simplicity, I am saying that since she has no cannon stripes, she does not carry a tabby.)
Now, for the other parent: Tigerstar.
First, I will trace back Tigerstarβs male line, which can be followed back to the couple of Oakstar and Sweetbriar.
Their son, Pinestar, is described as a reddish-brown tom, AKA in official language, cinnamon or chocolate. Both of his parents are also brown, so it is actually impossible for Pinestar to not be brown since both brown genes are recessive. Conclusion: Pinestar is still brown.
Next, letβs look at Tigerstarβs mother, Leopardfoot. She is described as a βmottled raven-black she catβ. Her parents, Swiftbreeze and Adderfang, are tabby and white and tabby.
Technically, Swiftbreez must be a torti since her mother is a ginger, but this doesnβt affect Leopardfoot much, since she appears to have not inherited that gene.
Since the non-agouti gene is recessive, it is possible for Leopardfoot to not be a tabby even though both parents are. So, Leopardfoot: still black.
Now, hereβs a big question: can Tigerstar be a tabby? :O or is our striped villainβ¦β¦.not striped?
The gene required for tabby is dominant, meaning that for a cat to have it one of their parents needs to have tabby. However, neither Leopardfoot nor Pinestar have tabby markings. That means that Tigerstar is a plain and simple black cat, with no stripes.
And finally, Bramblestar! (phew, itβs a lot of work, isnβt it?)
So, we have his parents: Goldenflower, who is not cream, but GREY! And Tigerstar, a tabby no more, a BLACK tom.
Looking at Bramblestarβs personna, he is a normal tabby cat. The genes for that are: A- (agouti), T-(gene controlling the type of tabby pattern), and BB DD (non chocolate and non dilute).
Since neither parent is tabby, (No βAβ gene), he can not be a tabby. That leaves him with BBDD, making him a black tom.
Thatβs right, a black tom. (Just like Firestar π )
To wrap this up and tie it in to the rest of my articles, letβs look at Squirrelflight (see previous article), who is really a tortishell, and our night colored Bramblestarβs children.
Alderheart is a dark ginger tabby with a white tail tip, and Sparkpelt is an orange tabby.
Letβs start with the tabby. Since it is dominant, one parent must have a tabby for the offspring to have a tabby. Neither do, so Sparkpelt and Alderheart can not either.
The same thing is applicable with the white markings on Alderheartβs tail. Neither parent has them (Squirrelflight canβt actually have her white paw), so he can not either.
Finally, ginger. As Iβve said before, ginger is very complicated, so Iβm going to do a bit of a re-cap from a previous article.
Here is my exert about ginger:
βBasics: We each have two sex chromosomes. If you have two x chromosomes, βXXβ, you are a girl. If you have a x and a y chromosome, βXYβ you are a (biologically, for all of these) guy. Like all genes, you get one from your mom and one from your dad. If you get your dadβs βXβ you are a girl (since your mom always gives you an x), if you get your dadβs βYβ you are a boy.
Ginger is a sex linked gene found only on the X chromosome. Girl cats, XX, can have no copies of it, Xn Xn, one copy of it, Xo Xn, or two copies of it, Xo Xo. Boys can be XnY or XoY, meaning they cannot have one of each.
Another fun thing about ginger is that it is also codominant. This only affects the girls, since they can have an βnβ and an βoβ at the same time. (Unless you have a special mutation that is XXY, which is sterile and how Redtail exists.)
So, cats that are XnXn are non ginger, cats that are Xo Xo are ginger, and cats that are XoXn are tortishell.
For the boys, they are either XnY, non ginger, or XoY, ginger.
Ginger covers up brown, so you can not tell if a ginger cat is βB-β or βbbβ. It is also impossible to tell if gingers are βA-, T-β because all gingers will have at least faint stripes even if they arenβt genetically a tabby. The dilute form of ginger of cream. Cats that are βXoXn, B-, ddβ will be blue creams, cats that are βXoXn, bb, D-β will be a chocolate tortie, and cats that are βXoXn, bb, ddβ will be a lilac torti.β
For Alderheart, he gets his Y chromosome from his dad, (making him male), and also an X chromosome from Squirrelflight. Since she has one of each (XnXo), she could give him either. This makes it possible for him to be ginger. (XoY). Alderheart: just a ginger tom.
Next, Sparkpelt.
She gets one non-ginger X chromosome from Brambleclaw, and can get only one ginger chromosome from her mother. This makes her (XnXo), and a tortishell cat.
Well, thatβs all for now! (Anybody still reading: thank you for your endurance)
Ask me if you have any questions, and let me know any cats you would like to see me look at!
I only understood 5% of that but good job. π
Thank you Moons π
5% > 0%Niceee I like it π π
Thatβs really interesting! I donβt really pay attention to their familyβs pelt colours.
Hi Flame! Nice article! Some of the genetics stuff went a little over my head, but the parts I did were really interesting!
Good job Flame! This was a great article!:) Even though I don’t really understand a few partsπ
Thanks for giving me something to do when I am not doing school stuff. (that something is correcting genetics in the warriors series)
Great article! π (I literally just skipped all of the genetic explanations and read what they were all supposed to be. π ) Great job, all the same.
I understood like none of that but I think it was a good point
OOf I managed to get to the end, unlike those who totally ignore genetics and wouldnβt even bother opening the link.
I’m 11.
I think I got genetics right oop
Isn’t Smallear chocolate or cinnamon, since toms get the X chromosome from their mother? And isn’t Firestar chocolate, due to having a chocolate mother??
Smallear doesn’t have parents in the book, so I just said his color works since there’s nothing suggesting otherwise.
The X chromosome thingy really only effects the ginger gene, it doesn’t make the toms identical to their mothers. Firestar could either be genetically chocolate or black, however, chocolate is not a very common gene to find among non-pedigree cats so it is more likely that Jake would not have a chocolate gene to contribute to Firestar. So, since chocolate is recessive and requires a chocolate gene from both parents, it is more likely that he is black. However, it is possible for him to be a chocolate, if Jake has a chocolate gene, but it’s less likely. π