Question: Why are there different breeds of animals? (E.g. Cats - Tabbys, Tortoishells, Black and Whites etc.?) How does living in a certain area change their coat colour to help them adapt?

Christina Pagel answered on 28 Jun 2013:

In the wild you get different breeds when animal populations are separated in different places – those places exert different pressures on the animals (e.g. colder, snowier, higher etc) that cause the animals to evolve in slightly different ways (grow shaggier, whiter, lighter etc)… this is how we get different breeds of tigers or elephants.

In domestic animals we have breeds because humans have only let animals breed that both have a trait that humans want (like silky ears or a certain colour or good hunting ability) – over time with repeated breeding, you get different breeds of domestic animals that look very different to each other…