How the Snake Lost Its Legs the leopard/elephant/camel got its spots/trunk/hump". Held's ability to captivate the reader's imagination compares to the mischievousness of Kipling's pourquoi stories," but the reader, "is also encouraged to extrapolate from general principles by the constant reminder that animals use a conserved set of developmental genes to construct their bodies." Martin finds evo-devo fascinating, "inherently colorful and well placed to fulfill the dual goal of etiological myths: explaining origins and causes while also stirring imagination and awe. Overall, the latest opus by Lewis Held Jr. fits that niche nicely, and shines by its ability to span essential concepts and empirical work with
Leopard complex unless the surrounding pigment is removed. As a rule, heterozygous leopards have larger, more abundant spots, while homozygotes have smaller, scarcer spots. There is at least one genetically controlled type of white patterning that is strictly associated with the leopard complex. These white patterns permit the spots associated with the leopard complex to become visible. Other white patterns, such as tobiano or white leg markings, obscure leopard spots. A certain amount of leopard-associated white patterning may be present at birth. Temporal changes in the amount of white patterning are discussed below. Leopard-associated white patterning is usually symmetrical and originates over