4 ms·

Spots, stripes and more: Working out the logic of animal patterns

77 points by prismatic 2y ago

atoav 2y ago
An interesting sidenote ate stripes and markings in human skin: https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-actually-have-secret-stripes-and-other-strange-markings https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-actually-have-secret-str...
danwills 2y ago
I liked the final quote: "Nature is more complicated than we thought" .. which I translate into "there's lots to explore!" And I utterly love Turing and the whole field of Reaction-Diffusion and I think people should try 'GollyGang/Ready' and have a play with some of the formulas that it comes-with as there is a really literally infinite world of dynamic possibilities there that has hardly been explored at all so far really! (Speaking as someone who has been on a few adventures in this realm now, see: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Naj_J8aznyk&si=9Z6yvgdVrG69gMbl https://youtube.com/watch?v=Naj_J8aznyk&si=9Z6yvgdVrG69gMbl for a rather strange example!)
- Terr_ 2y ago
  > I liked the final quote: "Nature is more complicated than we thought" Someday we will visit a world covered with sprawling writhing nanotechnology beyond human comprehension. I mean, besides this one.
- cainxinth 2y ago
  There was a quote from a biologist in an article about junk DNA recently that stuck with me: “A lot of biology is ‘why not?’ rather than ‘why?’”
shermantanktop 2y ago
This article has the ideal combination of science and cute animal pictures.
hinkley 2y ago
In mammals is this process mostly happens in utero by gene activation which lasts for the life of those cells and any cell divisions that happen from them. The spots and stripes can move a bit and fade or strengthen as the animal grows and ages. But it’s not always just the genes for hair color that activate. You can get spotted cats and dogs that have both pink and black spotted noses and lips. An if your cat ever needs surgery you may discover his skin is also pigmented in the same pattern as the fur. Apparently this is true of tigers.
nyc111 2y ago
Fascinating topic. But as far as I know the patterns in cats are not related to skin. I think they are related to genes. After all what we see as patterns are individual hairs of different colors. Some animals like zebras have the same stripes through generations. This is not very interesting. In cats I'm sure there is a random process in effect. But this random process is also "aware" of the symmetry of the body, like having the same black patch on each ear. Or having a black tail in otherwise white cat.
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  Looking at my cat's ears, the dark fur has dark skin underneath and the white fur has pink skin.

77 points by prismatic 2y ago

An interesting sidenote ate stripes and markings in human skin: https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-actually-have-secret-stripes-and-other-strange-markings https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-actually-have-secret-str...

danwills 2y ago

I liked the final quote: "Nature is more complicated than we thought" .. which I translate into "there's lots to explore!" And I utterly love Turing and the whole field of Reaction-Diffusion and I think people should try 'GollyGang/Ready' and have a play with some of the formulas that it comes-with as there is a really literally infinite world of dynamic possibilities there that has hardly been explored at all so far really! (Speaking as someone who has been on a few adventures in this realm now, see: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Naj_J8aznyk&si=9Z6yvgdVrG69gMbl https://youtube.com/watch?v=Naj_J8aznyk&si=9Z6yvgdVrG69gMbl for a rather strange example!)

Terr_ 2y ago
> I liked the final quote: "Nature is more complicated than we thought" Someday we will visit a world covered with sprawling writhing nanotechnology beyond human comprehension. I mean, besides this one.
cainxinth 2y ago
There was a quote from a biologist in an article about junk DNA recently that stuck with me: “A lot of biology is ‘why not?’ rather than ‘why?’”

shermantanktop 2y ago

This article has the ideal combination of science and cute animal pictures.

hinkley 2y ago

In mammals is this process mostly happens in utero by gene activation which lasts for the life of those cells and any cell divisions that happen from them. The spots and stripes can move a bit and fade or strengthen as the animal grows and ages. But it’s not always just the genes for hair color that activate. You can get spotted cats and dogs that have both pink and black spotted noses and lips. An if your cat ever needs surgery you may discover his skin is also pigmented in the same pattern as the fur. Apparently this is true of tigers.

nyc111 2y ago

Fascinating topic. But as far as I know the patterns in cats are not related to skin. I think they are related to genes. After all what we see as patterns are individual hairs of different colors. Some animals like zebras have the same stripes through generations. This is not very interesting. In cats I'm sure there is a random process in effect. But this random process is also "aware" of the symmetry of the body, like having the same black patch on each ear. Or having a black tail in otherwise white cat.

082349872349872 2y ago
Looking at my cat's ears, the dark fur has dark skin underneath and the white fur has pink skin.