I'll be leaving for CaCa land in about 2 weeks.  My route is from Columbia
MO to Austin TX to LaLa CaCa and up to Bezerkely.  When I leave CaCa land,
its up to Reno NV over to Montana, then across the top to home.  I rest for
a week and a half, then over to the Smithsonian.  Whew!  A lot of people
have asked me to stop, and I will, but I need phone numbers to contact you
when I am in your area.  Please send them by private e-mail if you have not
yet done so.  Oh, and thanks.
 
I have been discussing colors and patterns with mucho FML people and have
come to two conclusions.  First, no one agrees on anything, and second, the
terminology is very inconsistant.  I won't comment on that except to say
someday the clubs are going to have to swallow their pride, bury whatever
hatchets they have in each other's backs, and unify.  Everyone says we have
the third most popular carnivore pet, yet we lack a national organization to
fight our legal battles, set up a standardized terminology, and essentially
bleed us all dry in dues to support alcoholic ferretcrats.  And don't let
ANY club fool you; there is NO truely national organization.  Come on guys.
How many ferrets will have to lose their heads because we have too much
pride or stubbornness preventing us from organizing nationally and fighting
these idiotic pest control officers?  I personally challenge the various
"National Organizations" to get off their duff and start working together.
How about the FML 10th anniversary bash?  A day locked together in a room,
and I volunteer to referee.  I'll bring a whistle and a squirt-gun filled
with vinagar water.  OK, off the soapbox.
 
To set the record straight on white vs albino colorations.  Yes, all albinos
are white, but not all white ferrets are albino.  You can have the genetics
for any particular color and pattern, but if you lack the ability to make
pigment, you are an albino.  Conversely, you could simply have genes that
code for white hair, and still be able to make pigment.  Albinism is a
recessive trait and requires two copies of the albinism gene for albinism to
express AS albinos.
 
Second, color is a continuum from light to dark.  But not all color is
actually pigment, some is a result of hair texture and translucence.  Also,
in some mammals, there can be up to seven different gene locations that
determine color.  Eye color can have more than one gene controlling, as can
pattern.  Pattern is also a continuum; it doesn't take a rock scientist to
recognize most patterns are simply modifications of the classic sable.
(Don't confuse color with pattern here) Obviously, there are patterns that
look vastly different, but so would an African, and Asian, and an European
placed in the same room.  The more of each you put in the room, the less the
contrast until you can line the people up to form a continuous procession of
variabilty; in other words, a continuum.  In a continuum, it is easy to tell
the ends from the middle, but it can be next to impossible to tell adjacent
individuals apart.  In light of all this, without adequate record keeping
and sharing of information, working out some of these problems can be very
difficult.
 
Don't get me wrong; some breeders already know intuitively what colors and
patterns result from specific crosses, and their knowledge would be in
excess of most biologists starting out on the question, even though the
biologist would be well trained in genetics.  That is unless they work for
California and the Fish and Gestapo.  The difference is the biologist shares
the information with others.  So how about you breeders sharing the stuff
with us?  Perhaps a non-flaming forum would be appropriate, where people
simply report what they get with specific crosses.  Then we could compile
them and see what patterns emerge.
 
One last thing for you organizations to think about.  Most (or all) of you
class albinism as a pattern.  I think this confuses the issue because
albinism is a metabolic defect preventing the manufacturing of pigments.
The genes masked by this lack of pigment could range from black sable to
silver mitt.  They would express if the individual could make pigments.
Think of it this way; assuming they were albinistic, who would be willing
to take African, Asian, and European humans and classify them in a new
category?  Good luck.  Albinism is a NON-pattern.  Dark-eyed whites ARE a
pattern as are the rest of the brood.
 
I was asked repeatedly what is the difference between a dark-eyed white and
an albino.  Its easy; an albino is a ferret that has genes for pattern and
color, but cannot make pigments.  A dark-eyed white is a ferret that has the
metabolic pathways to make pigment, but they have genes that express white
or light color or pattern.  Now, if you REALLY wnat to get confused, it is
entirely possible to selectively breed an animal so its genes express white
fur coloration, reduced or removed eye pigmentation, and still has an active
metabolic pathway to make pigments.  So you could have a red-eyed white
pretending to be an albino.  Want to know how to tell them apart?  While it
is fairly easy to breed for white fur and light-colored eyes, the skin will
still produce melanin in non-albinos.  The trickster will have pigments in
the skin, and the albino won't.  So if ya can tan, yer not alban'.  Oh!
 
And now for you non-believers who can't understand how a panda can be part
of the sable continuum. Sable polecats have white on their mask, ear tips,
and chin. They also have a small white bib on the throat. Sable ferrets
are similar but with even more white. Expand the bib and face patches and
you have a blaze. Expand it some more, and you have a light head, with
small or no mask/eye patches. Ooooooo, a panda from a sable. A continuum.
 
Bob C and the 17 MO Monsters all dressed in Hawaiian print shirts, sporting
cool shades and sipping pina coladas out on the beach in the California sun.
[Posted in FML issue 1926]