GETTY IMAGES X2, ARI KANKAINEN, NASA/JPL-CALTECH/R HURT
Researchers in Finland have discovered a rare new colour of cat known as ‘salty liquorice.’ Cats with the unusual coat, which have been given the name ‘salmiak cats’ after the salt used in the black-and-white Nordic confection salty liquorice, are black with flecks of white. Elsewhere on their bodies, salmiak cats wear a ‘tuxedo’ pattern: a solid white neck, chest, belly and paws.
The unusual pattern of the new coat is caused by the colour of each hair changing from root to tip – starting out black near the cats’ skin then fading to white. And, as scientists recently discovered, that’s a huge deal genetically.