Day 1 to Weaning: Development of a Sun Conure - Comments Thread

[gbird]

Such a cute little "Bird-a-saurus" I can't believe Pita was ever that small....

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by gbird

Bird-a-saurus

Aaaahaha. My gf calls Nara "little Dino" when she gets out of the shower, because that's exactly what they look like wet. It's often easy to forget that they're nothing more than contemporary dinosaurs, but when that plumage is out of the way, it becomes difficult to forget.

[xMemory]

the 2nd day pics tottally made my day :}

[Emmilyy]

those pics are awesome! Soo tiny!

[Ringneckmom]

Yoo Hoo Tina!!!!
What is a tangerine - please splain!
Are they the real orange suns or is it something different?

[xMemory]

I love how everyone calls it a dinosaur, haha they look like such reptiles when babies :} wait til about 1-4 weeks hehe.

[xafsmom]

Tangerines aren't really a true mutation, yet. They're just very orangey suns that have orange over the shoulders and back. By orange, it's a peachy color that blends into the yellow and red and mutes those other colors moreso. Usually when you pair a 'tangerine' with one, you'll get tangerines. But, again, not a true mutation yet.

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by xafsmom

Tangerines aren't really a true mutation, yet. They're just very orangey suns that have orange over the shoulders and back. By orange, it's a peachy color that blends into the yellow and red and mutes those other colors moreso. Usually when you pair a 'tangerine' with one, you'll get tangerines. But, again, not a true mutation yet.

So "mutation" is used to refer to a phenotypic quality beyond a certain threshold in this context? What's a "true" mutation?

[xafsmom]

True mutations, to simplify - breed true. X to X = X or A/x x A/x = X/a or the like.

A Tangerine might be a true mutation but as yet, it's not considered such. Mainly -I think- because they haven't figured it out yet. Whereas a pied is a mutation and a red factor is a cumulative mutation.

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by xafsmom

True mutations, to simplify - breed true. X to X = X or A/x x A/x = X/a or the like.

A Tangerine might be a true mutation but as yet, it's not considered such. Mainly -I think- because they haven't figured it out yet. Whereas a pied is a mutation and a red factor is a cumulative mutation.

You mean they haven't figured out the inheritance pattern? Or the mechanism/genes involved? I'm just trying to understand whether it's a semantic thing or whether there is an underlying technical significance.

I guess what I'm asking is this: What does "figuring it out" entail? And is that by itself enough for it to become a true mutation?

p.s: Thanks for taking the time to answer all of our questions. I really enjoy reading your posts.