[HN Gopher] Spots, stripes and more: Working out the logic of an...
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       Spots, stripes and more: Working out the logic of animal patterns
        
       Author : prismatic
       Score  : 64 points
       Date   : 2024-05-29 23:50 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (knowablemagazine.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (knowablemagazine.org)
        
       | danwills wrote:
       | 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 for a
       | rather strange example!)
        
       | shermantanktop wrote:
       | This article has the ideal combination of science and cute animal
       | pictures.
        
       | hinkley wrote:
       | 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 wrote:
       | 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 wrote:
         | Looking at my cat's ears, the dark fur has dark skin underneath
         | and the white fur has pink skin.
        
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