1 Answers
A tabby is any domestic cat with a distinctive 'M'-shaped marking on its forehead; stripes by its eyes and across its cheeks, along its back, and around its legs and tail; and , characteristic striped, dotted, lined, flecked, banded, or swirled patterns on the body—neck, shoulders, sides, flanks, chest, and abdomen. "Tabby" is not a breed of cat, but a coat type seen in almost all genetic lines of domestic cats, regardless of status.
The tabby pattern is found in many official cat breeds and is a hallmark of the landrace extremely common among the general population of cats around the world. The tabby pattern occurs naturally and is connected both to the coat of the domestic cat's direct ancestor and to those of their close relatives: the African wildcat , the European wildcat and the Asiatic wildcat , all of which have similar coats, both by pattern and coloration. One genetic study of tabbies found five genetic clusters to be ancestral to cats of various parts of the world.