Brindle
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Brindle is a
coat A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a ...
coloring pattern in animals, particularly dogs, cattle, guinea pigs, cats, and, rarely, horses. It is sometimes described as "tiger-striped", although the brindle pattern is more subtle than that of a tiger's coat. Brindle typically appears as black stripes on a red base. The stripes are eumelanin (black/brown pigment) and the base is phaeomelanin (red/yellow pigment), so the appearance of those pigments can be changed by any of the genes which usually affect them. * Eumelanin (the pigment making up the stripes) can be affected by: merle (and harlequin), liver, dilution, greying, and recessive red. * Phaeomelanin (the pigment making up the base) can be affected by: Intensity locus. And of course, white markings and ticking can occur on any brindle dog. Brindle is caused by a complex gene process and is technically a form of mosaicism, where some cells express one allele (KB) and other cells express a different allele (ky), a little like
tortoiseshell cats Tortoiseshell is a cat coat coloring named for its similarity to tortoiseshell material. Like calicoes, tortoiseshell cats are almost exclusively female. Male tortoiseshells are rare and are usually sterile.Atkins (2003), p.105 Tortoiseshell ca ...
. This makes it very difficult to test for, and there are currently no commercially available tests that are able to detect brindle. Brindle dogs will usually test as KBky, and carriers (one dominant black allele, one brindle) cannot be identified without breeding.


Dogs

The brindle pattern may also take the place of tan in tricolor coats of some dog breeds (such as Basenjis). This coloration looks very similar to tricolor, and can be distinguished only at close range. Dogs of this color are often described as "trindle". It can also occur in combination with
merle Merle may refer to: People *Merle (given name), a given name used by both men and women *Merle (surname), a surname of French origin Others *Merle (dog coat), a pattern in dogs’ coats *Merle (grape), another name for the wine grape Merlot *Akaf ...
in the points, or as a brindle merle, in breeds such as the Cardigan Welsh Corgi, although the latter is not acceptable in the show ring. The "dark" markings are black or the dilutions gray (called blue) or brown (sometimes called red). It is not uncommon for a brindled Cairn Terrier to become progressively more black or silver as it ages.


Cats

Brindled domestic cats are also known as
tortoiseshell cat Tortoiseshell is a cat animal coloration, coat coloring named for its similarity to tortoiseshell material. Like calico cat, calicoes, tortoiseshell cats are almost exclusively female. Male tortoiseshells are rare and are usually sterile.Atkins (2 ...
s, and in some cases, tabby cats; they are almost exclusively female.


Guinea pigs

Brindle is an old variety in guinea pigs. They are difficult to breed to perfection, as the black and red hairs should intermingle evenly all over. Brindle guinea pigs' fur type is Abyssinian (rosetted).


Horses

Brindle coloring in horses is extremely rare and most commonly caused by pigment concentrating along Blaschko's lines during fetal development. In two confirmed cases it has been linked to spontaneous
chimerism A genetic chimerism or chimera ( ) is a single organism composed of cells with more than one distinct genotype. In animals, this means an individual derived from two or more zygotes, which can include possessing blood cells of different blood ty ...
, resulting in an animal with two sets of DNA, with the brindle pattern being an expression of two different sets of equine coat color genes in one horse. These forms are not heritable. In some horses the pattern seems to be inherited, indicating that one or more genes are responsible. One heritable brindle pattern in a family of
American Quarter Horse The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at s ...
s was identified in 2016 and named Brindle1 (BR1). The Brindle1 phenotype has an X-linked,
semidominant In genetics, dominance is the phenomenon of one variant (allele) of a gene on a chromosome masking or overriding the effect of a different variant of the same gene on the other copy of the chromosome. The first variant is termed dominant and t ...
mode of inheritance. Female horses with this gene have a striped coat pattern; hairs from the stripes have a different texture as well as color, are less straight, and are more unruly. Male horses have sparse manes and tails but do not show a striped coat texture pattern. A Brindle1 test is available. Brindle coloring consists of irregular stripes extending vertically over the horse's body and horizontally around the legs. Brindle horses can also have a dorsal stripe when caused by dun or non-dun1. It usually does not affect the head and legs as much as the body, with the heaviest concentrations of brindling being on the neck, shoulders and hindquarters. The coloring has been documented in the past. At the Zoological Museum of the Academy of Science in Saint Petersburg, a Russian cab horse of brindle coloring from the early 19th century was mounted and put on display due to its rarity.


Description

The brindled pattern found in horses could be described as vertical stripes that are found along the neck, back, hindquarters, and upper legs. The horse's head is usually a solid color and is not affected by the striping. The brindled pattern has no effect on dark
points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...
on horses. Some brindle-colored horses are more eye-catching than others. With this coat pattern there is a base coat that covers the entire body of the horse. This base coat color can be any color. Recorded examples have been
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
,
chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...
,
palomino Palomino is a genetic color in horses, consisting of a gold coat and white mane and tail; the degree of whiteness can vary from bright white to yellow. Genetically, the palomino color is created by a single allele of a dilution gene called t ...
, and dun. Earliest documented cases were said to have red dun or grulla as a base coat. Over top of the base color is either a lighter or darker color, giving the appearance of stripes.


Other animals

Brindle coloring exists in cattle. The Blue Wildebeest is a species of brindled gnu. For
crested gecko The crested gecko or eyelash gecko (''Correlophus ciliatus'') is a species of gecko native to southern New Caledonia. In 1866, the crested gecko was species description, described by a French zoologist named Alphonse Guichenot. This species was t ...
s, the term "brindle" is used to describe a
morph Morph may refer to: Biology * Morph (zoology), a visual or behavioral difference between organisms of distinct populations in a species * Muller's morphs, a classification scheme for genetic mutations * "-morph", a suffix commonly used in tax ...
with darker stripes of color.


Etymology

The word brindled is a variant of Middle English brended (early 15c.), from bren "brown color" (13c.), noun from past participle of brennen "burn" (from Proto-Germanic *brennan "to burn", from
PIE A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...
root *gwher- "to heat, warm"). The etymological sense of the adjective appears to be "marked as though by branding or burning".


In literature

* A brindle horse was mentioned in the book ''Riding Lessons'' by Sara Gruen. * " Jock of the Bushveld" was a brindle Staffordshire Bull Terrier mix and the companion of
Percy FitzPatrick Sir James Percy FitzPatrick, (24 July 1862 – 24 January 1931), known as Percy FitzPatrick, was a South African author, politician, mining financier and pioneer of the fruit industry. He authored the classic children's book, ''Jock of the Bus ...
in his travels around the South African veldt in the 1880s. FitzPatrick later collected tales of their adventures into a popular book of the same name. * Jack the bulldog featured in the '' Little House on the Prairie'' books by Laura Ingalls Wilder had a brindled coat. He was the companion and household protector of the Ingalls family in their early travels. He dies of old age at the beginning of '' By the Shores of Silver Lake''. * In
Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovato ...
' poem " Pied Beauty" (1918), the concept occurs in the opening: ::: Glory be to God for dappled things — ::: For skies of couple-color as a brinded cow; ::: For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim ...


But ''not'' Shakespeare

In William Shakespeare's play ''
Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
'', the opening of act 4, scene 1, is often taken to refer to a brindled cat in the sense of coat pattern as described in this article, because it does contain the word "brinded": :''Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.'' However, in this context –
Elizabethan English Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle En ...
– the word "brinded" was used to mean ''branded'', as in
marked by fire ''Marked by Fire'' (first published January 1, 1982) is a novel by Joyce Carol Thomas. Thomas and Paula Fox (''A Place Apart'') shared the 1983 National Book Award for Children's Books in category Fiction, Paperback.
. The word in Elizabethans used to describe a brindle-colored coat was "streaked".


See also

*
Dog coat * Equine coat color * Tabby cat *
Tortoiseshell cat Tortoiseshell is a cat animal coloration, coat coloring named for its similarity to tortoiseshell material. Like calico cat, calicoes, tortoiseshell cats are almost exclusively female. Male tortoiseshells are rare and are usually sterile.Atkins (2 ...


References


External links


Dog Coat Colour: Genetics & pigmentation
* ttp://www.cwcorgi.com/Aragorn/genetics.htm Genetics of brindling in the Corgibr>Cat coat color genetics
{{Equine coat colors Horse coat colors Dog anatomy Animal coat colors