Final answer:
Genetic inheritance such as sex-linked traits and incomplete dominance can cause variations in coat color in animals, including cattle, based on examples from the genetics of cats, chickens, mice, and rabbits.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a certain breed of cattle can be red, white, or roan (red and white patches), this is indicative of a type of genetic inheritance that affects coat color in cattle. Considering similar genetic scenarios in other organisms, such as cats and chickens, there are different modes of inheritance that can give rise to varying phenotypes. In cats, for example, the coat color is carried on the X chromosome, suggesting a sex-linked inheritance, while in chickens, the presence of speckled offspring from black and white parents hints at incomplete dominance where neither allele is completely dominant over the other, resulting in a phenotype that is a mix of both parents. Moreover, in mice and rabbits, we observe that interactions between multiple genes or alleles can affect the phenotype, which is known as epistasis or an allelic series, respectively.