Genetic Diversity

 

Breeding animal 'bitsers' is always interesting and turns up lots of different shades and shapes.

 

 

This newborn buck is a very dark colour. His mother, Princess, has a Toggenburg mother and a Boer father. His father has a Saanen mother and an Australian Brown father. So far it is hard to tell who he takes after.

 

I have twelve Sussex chicks that I have incubating this Spring. Their three possible mothers are pure Light Sussex while of their three possible fathers one of them looks like a Light Sussex but has some genetic diversity which is shown by his orange legs rather than the pure bred grey legs.

Two of the dozen are brown not white, perhaps Buff Sussex. One other has a brown tinge. I am unsure whether these differences are made through interbreeding eg Sussex plus Isa Brown or through a genetic variation eg Buff Sussex.

 

This baby guinea pig has two brown parents (as shown in photo) but has come out mottled with a range of colours. In the last litter there was one black and white baby. Despite the danger of inbreeding with guinea pigs they do seem to throwback plenty of variation.