Donna Anastasi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>A spotted gerbil has some white on it (other than a white chin) and carries the
>Sp gene.
>
>A pied gerbil is a type of spotted gerbil with a special pattern of white,
>namely
>collar of white fur around the neck plus some type of white on the face -- a
>blaze down the middle between the eyes or a partial blaze. My two pied gerbils
>also have white paws and a white tail tip, but I don't know whether this is
>always the case.
>
>-- Donna A.
Yes, the complete story is this:
When white spotting appeared in the 1960's the spotting always had a
distinct pattern, a spot on the nose, one on the forehead, and one on
the nape of the neck. The tip of the tail could be white, and in self
coloured gerbils like black, the belly would have a large white patch
also.
In the UK, there were two show standards. Spotted, for white bellied
colours with this "classic" spotting, and Patched, for all other white
marked gerbils.
The word Patched was also changed to "Broken" for some periods as it is
a term used in other species like mice.
Some time, probably in the 70's, people in the US managed to breed these
marked gerbils with more white. Once they got a full collar these
gerbils became known as Pied.
Nowadays, the term Patched has been dropped from use, and the two terms
still used are:
Spotted, for "classic" spotting, and Pied for all more extensively
marked gerbils. Mottled is often used for very pied animals that appear
to have patches of various shaded of colour.
The following page needs to be updated, but the illustrations and text
may be helpful:
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/pied.htm
--
Julian
************************************************************************
* Jackie and Julian *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* National Gerbil Society *
* http://www.gerbils.co.uk/ *
************************************************************************
