Why don’t cats have brown eyes? April 26, 2008
Posted by ourfriendben in critters, pets, wit and wisdom.Tags: blue eyes, brown eyes, cat eyes, eye color, human eyes
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Admiring the huge, adorable, clueless, seagreen eyes of our cat Linus the other day, it struck our friend Ben that, of all the cats I’ve ever known or seen (and trust me, I’ve been to my share of cat shows), I’ve never seen one with brown eyes. Orange, amber, yellow, every shade of green, blue, even violet (Liz Taylor, eat your heart out)—yes. But brown? Never.
As you all know from high-school biology, brown is the most common eye color. With very rare exceptions (usually among Huskies and Australian shepherds), dogs have brown eyes, though they range from near-black through chocolate to red-brown like our golden retriever Molly’s beautiful eyes. Cows? Brown. Horses? Brown. Guinea pigs? Brown. A quick chat with our friend Ben’s good friend Google puts the number of humans with brown eyes between 85 and 95%. So what’s the deal with cats?! If you know, please help our friend Ben out here.
Our friend Ben unearthed some fascinating data about human eye color while checking the stats for this. Our friend Ben’s eyes are blue, which as you’ll also recall from those high-school biology lessons is a recessive trait, so it can easily disappear if a more dominant color is present in either parent. But even so, our friend Ben didn’t realize that blue eyes are disappearing from the American scene until I read an article called “Don’t it make your blue eyes brown?” that originally appeared in the Boston Globe in October 2006. This article tracks the relatively abrupt and extremely steep decline in blue eye color in the U.S. over the past century, and gives some compelling reasons why it’s happening. The research was done by, of all things, an epidemiologist, which makes our friend Ben wonder whether I should now consider myself an endangered species or a highly contagious disease. Apparently, the highest percentage of blue eyes in the U.S. can now be found in nursing homes, and within another couple of generations, they may disappear from the scene entirely.
But this was only the beginning of the astonishing things our friend Ben turned up. Thanks to genetics, scientists have determined that all blue-eyed people are descended from a single ancestor who lived between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. Before the genetic mutation that gave him blue eyes, apparently all human eyes were brown. If you have blue eyes today, you also have this genetic mutation. Wow. In the millions of years of human history, 6,000 years seems like an eyeblink (if you’ll pardon the expression in this context). The authors of the study pointed out that blue eyes are as (relatively) common as they are today because the mutation was apparently a hit. By mediaeval times, blue eyes were considered a sign of beauty and fertility, and blue-eyed women were the most sought-after. Blue eyes had become a reproductive advantage.
And that’s not all. Scientists have found that, even today, blue-eyed men prefer blue-eyed women over all others, finding them far more attractive. Studies have shown this to be true not only in the abstract, where the men were asked to select women they found most attractive from a range of faces, but also in real life, where blue-eyed men choose blue-eyed partners much more often than partners with other eye colors. Not only do men with other eye colors not factor eye color into their choices, but blue-eyed women are also colorblind when it comes to choosing partners based on eye color: It isn’t a factor.
Our friend Ben would have simply thought these findings were somewhat curious had I not read on. You see, it’s been our friend Ben’s observation that people in general do tend to find people who look most like them to be most attractive. (Whether this springs from cultural conditioning or simple narcissism, I couldn’t say.) But the authors of this study threw a pitcher of very cold water on our friend Ben’s theory. They concluded that blue-eyed men preferred blue-eyed women because then they could determine their children’s paternity. That is to say, if a child born to a blue-eyed couple did not have blue eyes, then the husband was not the child’s biological father. So marrying blue-eyed women would give blue-eyed men a reproductive advantage in the Darwinian sense. (Of course, the men wouldn’t consciously be aware that this genetic imperative was driving their choice of mates.)
This was all very interesting, but it wasn’t the end of our friend Ben’s discoveries. Yet another article posited that blue-eyed people were considered especially attractive because pale irises allowed others to easily see when one was experiencing pleasure or excitement (in both cases, the pupil dilates). Because these are considered attractive and desirable states (remember those unfortunate women in Regency England who put laudanum drops in their eyes to enlarge their pupils and make themselves more attractive?), being able to see them confers desirability on the person whose eyes are, literally, telling all.
Our friend Ben was reminded of a conversation with a friend in grad school who claimed that he could never tell what our friend Ben was thinking because of my blue eyes. But of course our friend Ben found it much easier to “read” blue and green eyes than the dark eyes of my friend, and a lively debate ensued. In light of all this, our friend Ben would like to dispense a bit of advice: If you have blue eyes, remember that you may be giving away more of your feelings than you think. And if you have dark eyes, you may need to be a bit more demonstrative to let people know how you’re feeling.
One last thing: Blue eyes are not the rarest color. Green eyes are! Only 1 to 3% of the world population has green eyes, and as you’d expect, most of them live in Ireland, where the percentage jumps to 20%. But our friend Ben would bet that in the cat world, green is the dominant hue. It certainly is around here!
I have green eyes - my OH has blue eyes. I have orange eye cats, green eye cats, blue eye cats and a cat with one green and one brown eye. Sadly she is spayed, so you cant use her genes to change the cat population! Interesting post, reminded me of that Melting pot song from the 1960s/70s.
Hi Zoe! I always wanted a cat with orange eyes–lucky you! My parents and siblings all have green eyes, I’m the only throwback to my mother’s blue-eyed parents. And even my eyes look green if I’m wearing a green tee-shirt!
My cat is white with copper colored eyes. I know I’ve never seen a cat with brown eyes, and I can’t find any examples online. Interesting question! My eyes are true blue without any trace of other color.
My daughters both have blue eyes as well.
Lucky you–*another* orange/copper-eyed cat owner! Someday, I’ll have a calico or buff cat with orange eyes, I swear it. And you know, I’d never even thought about cats not having brown eyes until the other day. But it *is* odd!
We’ve only had one cat and his eyes are greenish- gold.
The rest of your post had me thinking about my dating years and the man I married. I am blue eyed, came from a long line of blue eyed folks. He is blue eyed with the same history. Hmmm?
I dated all different color eyed guys. The two brown eyed, olive skinned (Jewish and Italian) were what I consider to be beautiful. The other few men were all blue eyed and what I consider handsome. Interesting how I categorize them differently. Technically, my hubby chose me, as he is the one that proposed. Our kids all have blue eyes. Surprise.
Just to give you more food for thought—I watched a program on the Discovery channel about folks of different nationalities/races. The reason that one race thinks the other race “all look the same” is because there are certain markers that certain races use to differentiate faces. Caucasians (including European nations) use hair color and eye color as visual cues. Most people from African and Asian heritage have dark eyes and dark hair, thus making it difficult for caucasians to tell one person from another in a quick meeting. People of African heritage use other cues–shade of skin, distinct facial features and body features. Our cues are not their cues and vise versa. I ultimately believe that we are drawn to folks from our own village from ancient undercurrents. Unfortunately, we have brought along hatred of other villages because they don’t look like us. You think we’d be past that by now ;(
That’s fascinating, CeeCee, and of course the different cues make sense. The most beautiful person I ever saw was half Welsh and half Pakistani, with deep blue eyes, blue-black hair and dusky skin. Talk about a stunning combination! And yes, darnit, I *would* think we’d have moved on by now. I actually think the impulse to tan is an unconscious attempt to equalize skin color. Too bad those wretched dermatologists had to step in and bring back pasty white!
This was a fascinating post “ben” .. I hadn’t thought about cat eye colours on that level. Sophie has beautiful pale blue ones (Siamese influence) Emma .. when I first saw her I was struck dumb in love with her .. she looked like an ancient soul in a little kitten body .. I have had a few cats in my life , wonderful intelligent beauties .. but I have never felt that feeling as I did for Emma .. I love my cats dearly but that was the strangest meeting of souls I have ever encountered.
Right now they are both kittens with this thunder storm .. romping like KIDS ! haha
I have green eyes .. hubby brown .. son, in-between ? .. all of us with Celt blood .. so we are in the mix ? LOL
Great reading … thank you !
Joy
Thanks, Joy! And I felt that about Emma, too–I think you have something really special there!
I think every cat I’ve ever had has had green eyes. I love blue eyes in cats. MIL has a dog with one blue and one brown eye. I love eyes, they are the first thing I notice about people (and animals in general).
My Dad’s family is of Swedish decent so most have either blue or green eyes. Dad had blue eyes, Mom has brown, and I have blue-green. They seem to me somewhat hazelish, but no trace of brown, gray, or amber. They look more blue if I’m wearing blue, and more green if I’m wearing green. I think they’re one of my best features. Cheesehead and my kids all have blue eyes as well. Why am I always the oddball?
I love these kind of studies, I was going to teach hs biology before I had a couple of run-ins with undesirable classes and boredom set in. I still like to study science stuff though. Neat info!
Thanks, Cinj! And I agree, it’s not for nothing that they call the eyes the windows of the soul!
What a fascinating read!! Thank you. I am honored to say I have green eyes (but come from eastern european breeding). The other day, while teaching, I was wearing a green and white striped shirt and two students were whispering to each other, looking at me, and one was nodding. I asked “what’s the deal whackos?” (seriously) One student said how my green shirt really brought out my eyes. Automatic “A” for that kid! Or was I being flirted with?
Thanks, Benjamin! It really is amazing what’s out there on the web. Who knew?! And watch out for those students! You should check “Rate My Professors” and see if you have a hotness rating!
It is interesting, and perhaps a bit sad, about blue eyes being on the decline. My father, and one of my brothers, have blue eyes (and dark hair–a striking combo). My mom green eyes…me, greenish hazel, 2nd brother…brown. My dh has blue eyes (disputes theory of blue-eyed prefering blue-eyed?)…we have one offspring with blue eyes and one with green/hazel.
My cat (a Siamese) has beautiful blue eyes…dog (Lab) soft brown. I’ve had many cats and, you’re right, never one with brown eyes…always beautiful green, gold, orange or blue.
Well, *I* certainly think it’s sad, Lin! And yes, my mother’s parents and I have/had that blue eyes/dark hair thing going, too. I’ve always liked it. Eye colors are fascinating, aren’t they? I’ve always loved emerald, seagreen, hazel, amber, and red-brown (hot!) as well. Not to mention gold and orange cat eyes!
Very interesting, but what about hazel? Two of the monkeys have the most beautiful blue/green eyes you have ever seen. Mom has brown, dad has green.
All Manx cats have golden eyes to stare you down with.
Deb.
I found some very interesting comments on hazel eyes when I was researching this, Deb, but of course now I can’t remember which article they were in–possibly the one on eye color genetics, possibly the Wikipedia piece on eye color. Hmmm. If you’re interested, Google “hazel eyes” and let us know what you turn up! And yes, I too think blue-green eyes are beautiful. (And gold eyes, of course!)
Interesting article.
I have 3 kitties, 2 with greenish blue eyes and 1 with dark amber eyes.
My entire family has blue eyes: me, my brother, my mom, my dad, mom’s parents, dad’s parents. My fiance has green eyes so our kids will either have blue or green eyes. It’s pretty cool to think that my eye color is getting rarer. I hope we can pass it along pretty far.
I hope so, too, Jessica! Blue eyes forever!!!