Donna Anastasi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>I am just getting started putting together a web page of "Silver
>Bullet's Amazing Molt" and it has made me wonder why it is that some
>color need to be molted into and some stay the same from birth. Are
>their "molting genes"? For example ee and cbch, cbcb??
C[h] and C[b] colours change probably because of temperature. The darker
areas are that way because they are cooler. I would guess that younger
animals have a slightly higher temperature so are lighter.
As for ee colours, I would say it has more to do with the difference
between juvenile and adult coats. There are plenty of differences with
other colours, for example, people who show and judge gerbils know that
young blacks are "blacker" than adults.
On the whole, all gerbils moult at that age to get their adult coat, but
the different colour genes result in different things being expressed in
the juvenile and adult coat. Exactly why is not well understood yet.
--
Julian
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* Jackie and Julian *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* National Gerbil Society *
* http://www.gerbils.co.uk/ *
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