My understanding is that the term calico is used when there is a great deal of white or cream and the colors are mostly in identifiable patches, and that tortoiseshell is used when there is just about no white, (occasionally some cream, but very little) and the black and orange are more mixed than separate.
But yeah, pretty much all 3-color cats are female. Or sterile.
I remember one cat who looked like a perfectly typical orange tabby that a graffiti artist had gone at with a can of black paint. The black really did look applied on afterwards.
Oh, and the colors can be pastel, too. Grey instead of black and very pale orange. These are usually of the calico type..
But yeah, pretty much all 3-color cats are female. Or sterile.
I remember one cat who looked like a perfectly typical orange tabby that a graffiti artist had gone at with a can of black paint. The black really did look applied on afterwards.
Oh, and the colors can be pastel, too. Grey instead of black and very pale orange. These are usually of the calico type..