Human Stripes 🐅🦓

I'm fascinated by genetics, so I tend to have random facts about the topic tucked away in my head that resurface sometimes. I wanted to share one that involves human skin patterns! ✨️ Blaschko lines are patterns in our skin that begin to form when we're tiny embryos. They're caused by chromosome expression in our cells. So, if you're female for example, one cell may use the X chromosome your mother gave you, while a different cell may express the X chromosome your father gave you. Lines or patches of these cells form unique patterns. You can see the result of this process in animals with coat colors linked exclusively to their X chromosomes, such as calico cats! One coat color is from the cat's mother, and the other is from its father. 🖤🧡 Human skin patterns are usually invisible to the naked eye, but can be seen under strong UV light or can sometimes be visible due to certain skin conditions such as eczema and vitiligo. Have you heard of this before? And do you have any visible Blaschko lines or other "patterns" (freckles, stretch marks, birthmarks, etc.)? I am freckled from head to toe, so I like to think my patterns resemble a leopard or jaguar. 🐆(I am delulu. 😂) I've never seen my actual Blaschko lines though. Here's a link to a more in-depth article if you want to learn more and see picture examples: https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-actually-have-secret-stripes-and-other-strange-markings