User blog comment:Lord Loss/Monster Hunter Theory... Blog/@comment-5020152-20120829202114/@comment-5043481-20120831113419

Im saying that the colour genes could be on the XY chromasones, rather than elsewhere, as in most other creatures. They might not be but it would certainly explain what we see plausibly. The colour would be a sexual characteristic, one that males posses but females don't, or visa versa. A lions mane is one example, or peacock plumage.

Also, it is humans that have 23 pairs, different species have different numbers of pairs. For all we know raths may have 12 pairs, or 654 pairs, or indeed any number you can think of.