The internet loves cute animals, it seems like if you have a pet you have a lot of chances to make it at least slightly internet-famous by creating a social media page for it, preferably Instagram. And if you post consistently enough and take cute photos of your pet they will probably get a decent following.
Now if your pet is a cat – your chances of fame grow exponentially because it seems like cats are the internet’s favourite animals. And then if your cat has unique features – you’re freaking golden!
Think about it – Grumpy Cat, Lil Bub and other cats became viral sensations because they were different, and unique. The internet didn’t see their features as a bad trait, in fact their genetic mutations were celebrated and adored. It seems like we as people are starting to value difference and uniqueness above all.
So it’s no surprise that Quimera the two-faced cat has almost 100k followers on Instagram. Her face is so unique it literally looks like it’s made up of two different cats spliced together. The right side of her face is ginger with an orange eye and the left side is black with a mesmerizing blue eye. And it’s split right down the middle, in a very clear straight line. Her body is kind of mirrored thought, with the right side having more black and the left having more ginger fur.
What made Quimera look like that? Well it’s most likely a genetic mutation called chimerism, which is how Quimera got her name. This mutation happens when one organism is made up of cells with more than one distinct genotype. It can happen not only in animals but also in humans and even plants. It essentially means that the appearance will be split between the two or more genotypes. You’ve probably seen this with flowers two, where they get split in color.
Another reason for such a distinct difference in color could be a unique case of mosaicism, which is a mutation that happens when one egg just happened to have different active expressions in its cells, but in that case it would be very rare to have such an even split down the face like Quimera has.
The reason for Quimera’s unique appearance could be determined for sure with a DNA test, but at the end of the day, does it matter? She’s an extremely cute kitty with a unique looking face and almost 100k people on Instagram love her for it. Isn’t that good enough?
