Lil Bub has been described as many thingsâ”magical” is a known label, for one. Scientists have discovered exactly what makes this kitten-sized cat so unique.
![](https://images.americanupbeat.com/posts/559/about5.jpg)
She’s amassed over 2 million Instagram followers, a talk show, a stage production, a book, and an album. Dario Lupianez is the author of various noteworthy scientific papers, including “Breaking TADs: How alterations of chromatin domains result in disease.” Now, Lupianez and his team of international molecular biologists have embarked on a new journey: to find out why Lil Bub looks like that.
![](https://images.americanupbeat.com/posts/559/5c7d874f537c7.image_.jpg)
Lupianez and his fellow scientists spent four years crowdfunding money or research. The answer to their burning question? Lil Bub is a product of various genetic mutations. It was found that Bub’s polydactyl condition is related to those of Ernest Hemingway’s six-toed cats. The mutation differs from those that case polydactyl in cats outside the North American continent, meaning Bub is related to the Hemingway cats.
![](https://images.americanupbeat.com/posts/559/lil-bub-5.jpg)
Mike Bridavsky, who refers to himself as her “dude”, found her in a tool shed as a kitten. “She’s quite literally one in infinity, you could say, as far as a genetic anomaly,” he said. “I personally was convinced that they would find that her DNA was not from our planet, which is what I was hoping for, or there was some crazy prehistoric DNAâthat she was part dinosaur.