g. m. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>This litter can be known as "The twin litter." You can name each one
>after a letter in the word T W I N. They should be kept for further
>study by yourself or an advanced breeder because its possible they may
>have other genetic aberrations, hopefully not negative. Maybe it will
>have black spots like a Dalmation, have two different colors like a
>lilac head and a black body, or even curly hair. Its also possible
>Mutations may not show up until they are bred to each other. Its all
>speculation.
As Deb and Gary have suggested, it will be interesting to see how these
four develop.
BTW Gary, Dalmatians do not have black spots. Genetically they are white
spotted animals (s[w]). They have so many white spots that they only
leave small patches of the original colour. Selective breeding has lead
to the traditional pattern. Even so, many litters of Dalmation pups will
have irregular patches of black instead of the small black spots. These
dogs are often culled just because they do not comply with the standard
for the breed.
It is quite possible that a similar extensive white spotting could
appear in gerbils. Dalmation cavies exist, although they have a dark
head. Unfortunately the Dalmation gene when homozygous causes deformed
but surviving young (eyeless whites).
One problem with Dalmatian cavies is that they have many white hairs in
the spots. In Dalmatian dogs these also exist, but a second mutation (f)
removes them.
--
Julian
************************************************************************
* Jackie and Julian *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* National Gerbil Society *
* http://www.gerbils.co.uk/ *
************************************************************************
