Whos your Daddy

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Whos your Daddy?

• The true story of a biology professors kitty
  adventures in the summer of 2007.

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Last May, this little lady...
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...hid a little surprise in our yard
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Now, if this is the Mommy...
...and these are the babies...
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Who is the Daddy???
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Coat colors in this family
Toast (mother of the kittens dark tortoiseshell,
small creamy bib, no tabby markings.
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Gizmo (Female)
Gizmo is almost identical to her mother, right
down to a small cream patch on one hind foot.
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Sprocket (Female)
Sprocket is a calico girl with no tabby markings.
Her belly and chest are white.
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Edison (Male)
Edison is a piebald black-and-white boy with a
white belly and no tabby markings.
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The prime suspects
Bruiser Black and white, with white belly. Newer
to the neighborhood, but highly territorial and
aggressive.
Big Tom White belly and legs with gray tabby
back. Has been in the neighborhood for several
years.
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Your job

• Use the web to look up information on cat
  genetics. Several cat breeder sites have
  excellent information on the inheritance of coat
  color.
• Determine the probable genotypes of Toast and the
  three surviving kittens. Using this, determine
  which of the toms is the father of the kittens.
• Write up what you find, including what you learn
  about patterns of inheritance in cat fur color.
  Include Punnett squares to show your work.
• Since Toast was the only fertile female around
  that I know of (after I caught and spayed two
  others), and there were multiple intact tomcats
  in the area, she could have bred with more than
  one male. Thus its possible that the kittens
  have different fathers. Use what you find out
  about cat genetics to determine if this is
  probable, or if one of the males could have sired
  all of the kittens.

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The sequel

• Toast was captured, spayed, and released. She
  still stays around the house to get food and
  likes to follow people around the yard when were
  outdoors. She sleeps on a fleece blanket in a
  sheltered spot on the deck. Perhaps someday
  shell be tame enough to come indoors.
• The kittens were fostered for a no-kill cat
  shelter, but they became such a part of the
  family that we ended up adopting all three.
• Bruiser and Big Tom also stay near the house to
  get food. Theyre next on the list for capturing
  and neutering, statistically the most effective
  means of controlling feral cat populations.