Alpaca Journal

This article updates the author’s previous update and presents the following conclusions:

The Herd Book results confirm, once again, that coloured fleece types dominate over white fleece; that brown is dominant over black and also over red fleece colours, and that the bulk of the Australian alpaca herd is coloured.

The reader is referred to the author’s previous articles (see references) for more detailed discussion of the genetics of alpaca fleece colours.

Disclaimer
The author’s opinions and conclusions are based solely on personal research and interpretation of the mating results presented in the Australian Alpaca Association Herd Books, Volumes 1-8 inclusive. The author is not responsible for any breeding or other decision taken by any other person in relation to these opinions or conclusions.

RELATED LINKS:

• Breeding for Color
• Theory of Colour Inheritance in Alpacas
• The Status of White and Red Alpacas in the Australian Herd
• The Status of Grey Alpacas in the Australian Herd
• An Update of Alpaca Fleece Colour

This article presents an update of the Status of White and Red Alpacas in the Australian Herd. The author’s conclusions, which follow, are generally:

In brief, the results to date indicate that coloured fleece types dominate over white fleece types; that Brown fleece colour is dominant to Black fleece colour and that Red fleece colour is separate from Brown/Black colour.

Grey fleece colours are assumed to be dilute forms of Brown/Black colour, with rosegrey being dilute Brown and silvergrey being dilute Black. Dilute Red fleece may appear to be nearly white.

RELATED LINKS:

• The Status of White and Red Alpacas in the Australian Herd
• Breeding for Color

This article begins with a facinating discussion of the evidence of white animals in the wild. There are none, except for the baby seal which later molts into brown. In other words white animals are man’s domestic creation.

The author points out that, in alpacas, white bred to white produces approximately 62% white cria. She goes on to say that white and the white spotting genes are closely related:

Types of ‘white’ which may be present include:

1. diluted red (chinchilla) alpacas with or without white-spotting genes;
2. mega white-spotted alpacas carrying colour genes; (these two types may account for some of the dark-eyed, dark-nosed whites);
3. possible near-albino genotypes with permanent pink skin and white fleece.

The conclusions from Paul’s study are:

1. Coloured fleece types in alpacas appear to dominate over white fleece types.
2. Brown fleece colour appears to be dominant over black fleece colour.
3. Grey fleece colour generally appears to be a combination of recessive diluting genes operating on brown/black pigment, minor white-spotting genes producing the characteristic white face and feet of grey alpacas.
4. Red fleece colour appears to be a separate colour from brown/black colour.
5. White and white-spotting genes appear to be closely associated in alpacas. White alpacas may be a mix of different genotypes, rather than one clear genotype.

Click here to read more.

RELATED LINKS:

• Breeding for Color
• The Status of Grey Alpacas in the Australian Herd
• Theory of Colour Inheritance in Alpacas

If you want to create grey alpacas this article is your road map. This is the second in a series of articles by Elizabeth Paul that analyze the color pathways in alpacas.

One of the most interesting details in the article is the suggestion that black is a recessive allele of brown and black to black matings only produce about 50% black cria, the other half being brown.

Paul says that a mating with one grey parent will produce grey 33% of the time and that grey almost never occurs when mating red to red. She also comes to the following conclusions:

1. The results of the survey support the assumption that rosegrey alpacas are a form of brown and that silvergrey alpacas are a form of black fleece colours.
2. Crossing two grey alpacas had at least a 60% chance of producing grey progeny. Crossing a grey with a non-grey alpaca had approximately a 25% chance of producing grey progeny. Crossing two non-grey alpacas produced less than 5% grey progeny. (This study has not examined particular pedigrees. Non-grey alpacas with grey ancestors would be more likely to produce grey progeny themselves in the right mating.)
3. Crossing grey alpacas with white/coloured (non-grey) alpacas was more likely to produce solid colour or white progeny, than either grey or white/coloured progeny.

Click here to read more.

RELATED LINKS:

• Breeding for Color
• The Status of White and Red Alpacas in the Australian Herd
• Theory of Colour Inheritance in Alpacas

This is a must read for breeders who want to make accurate color selection decisions. Study this article and create the colored cria of your dreams.

The most interesting detail I found in the article was the speculation by the author that the black gene may come from guanaco. The model generally predicts that when you breed the same color to same color you will get the same color 85% of the time.

Paul then tested her model against 13,000 breedings from the Australian registry herd book. The test showed a substantial correlation with the hypothetical model. The most interesting data that she cited was:

1. White bred to color produced color 75% of the time.
2. Color bred to color almost always produced color.
3. Breeding white animals with pink pigmentation almost always produced white animals with pink pigmentation.

Click here to read more.

RELATED LINKS:

• Breeding for Color
• The Status of White and Red Alpacas in the Australian Herd
• The Status of Grey Alpacas in the Australian Herd
• An Update of Alpaca Fleece Colour