The Alpaca Journal
Mike and Kids

Alpaca Journal

Volume 2, Issue 1
Thursday, June 07, 2007
THE SURI SELECTION TOOL
      The term “pure suri” is misunderstood. There are a number of ways to define a pure suri. The Suri Network breed standards as adopted, define a pure suri as the phenotypic product of mating a suri male with a suri female. The zoological definition of a pure breed is: A population of a species that have distinct characteristics that differentiate them from other populations in that species. Individuals within that population that reproduce with another individual of the population will produce offspring that are recognizable as members of that population.Animal breeding books allow that a breed can be defined by a breed association and does not necessarily need be “pure”. There is no doubt that a suri can be born of a huacaya parent and that a huacaya can be born of two suri parents. Suri breeders may be better served to use science, not subjective definitions, to accomplish their goal of breeding pure suri. I created the Suri Selection Tool because I don’t think a Suri breeder should have to get on their horse and go looking for a homozygous or “pure suri” male. Read more

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