Purebreds are likecultivars of ananimalspecies achieved through the process ofselective breeding. When thelineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to bepedigreed. Purebreds breed true-to-type which means the progeny of like-to-like purebred parents will carry the samephenotype, or observable characteristics of the parents. A group of like purebreds is called a pure-breeding line or strain.
In the world ofselective animal breeding, to "breed true" means that specimens of an animalbreed will breed true-to-type when mated like-to-like; that is, that the progeny of any two individuals of the same breed will show fairly consistent, replicable and predictable characteristics, or traits with sufficiently high heritability.[1][2] A puppy from two purebred dogs of the same breed, for example, will exhibit the traits of its parents, and not the traits of all breeds in the subject breed's ancestry.
Breeding from too small a gene pool, especially directinbreeding, can lead to the passing on of undesirable characteristics or even a collapse of a breed population due toinbreeding depression. Therefore, there is a question, and often heated controversy, as to when or if a breed may need to allow "outside" stock in for the purpose of improving the overall health and vigor of the breed.
Because pure-breeding creates a limitedgene pool, purebred animal breeds are also susceptible to a wide range of congenital health problems.[3] This problem is especially prevalent in competitive dog breeding and dog show circles due to the singular emphasis on aesthetics rather than health or function. Such problems also occur within certain segments of the horse industry for similar reasons. The problem is further compounded when breeders practiceinbreeding.[4] The opposite effect to that of the restricted gene pool caused by pure-breeding is known ashybrid vigor, which generally results in healthier animals.[3]
Apedigreed animal is one that has its ancestry recorded. Often this is tracked by a majorregistry. The number of generations required varies from breed to breed, but all pedigreed animals have papers from the registering body that attest to their ancestry.
The word "pedigree" appeared in the English language in 1410 as "pee de Grewe", "pedegrewe" or "pedegru", each of those words being borrowed to the Middle French "pié de grue", meaning "crane foot". This comes from a visual analogy between the trace of the bird's foot and the three lines used in the English official registers to show the ramifications of a genealogical tree.[5]
Sometimes the wordpurebred is used synonymously withpedigreed, but purebred refers to the animal having a known ancestry, and pedigree refers to the written record of breeding. Not all purebred animals have their lineage in written form. For example, until the 20th century, theBedouin people of theArabian Peninsula only recorded the ancestry of theirArabian horses via anoral tradition, supported by the swearing of religiously based oaths as to theasil or "pure" breeding of the animal. Conversely, some animals may have a recorded pedigree or even a registry, but not be considered "purebred". Today the modernAnglo-Arabian horse, a cross ofThoroughbred andArabian bloodlines, is considered such a case.
Apurebred dog is a dog of amodern breed of dog, with written documentation showing the individual purebred dog's descent from its breeds'foundation stock[dubious –discuss]. In dogs, the term breed is used two ways: loosely, to refer todog types orlandraces of dog (also called natural breeds or ancient breeds); or more precisely, to refer to modern breeds of dog, which are documented so as to be known to be descended from specific ancestors, that closely resemble others of their breed in appearance, movement, way of working and other characters; and that reproduce with offspring closely resembling each other and their parents.[6] Purebred dogs are breeds in the second sense.
New breeds of dog are constantly being created, and there are many websites for new breed associations and breed clubs offering legitimate registrations for new or rare breeds. When dogs of a new breed are "visibly similar in most characteristics" and have reliable documented descent from a "known and designated foundation stock",[6] then they can then be considered members of a breed, and, if an individual dog is documented and registered, it can be calledpurebred.
A cat whoseancestry is formally registered is called apedigreed or purebred cat. Technically, apurebred cat is one whose ancestry contains only individuals of the same breed. Apedigreed cat is one whose ancestry is recorded with acat registry, but may have ancestors of different breeds.Landraces are not cat breeds, but a selective group of representative cats can be used asfoundation stock to create a new cat breed (examples of breeds created in this way are theMaine Coon,European Shorthair andSiberian).
Because of common crossbreeding in populated areas, most cats are simply identified as belonging to the unregistered non-pedigree cats of mixed or unknown ancestry, referred to asdomestic long-haired anddomestic short-haired cat, depending on their fur length.[7] Other commonly used terms are random-bred cat, domestic cat, house(hold) cat or moggie/moggy (UK English).[8] Out of the hundreds of millions of cats worldwide, almost none have any purebred ancestors, nor belong to a specific breed, because purebred cats are a human invention of the last 150 years and selectively bred fromfoundation stock by breeders in closed off lineages.
Approximately 3–4% of the cats in the US are purchased from breeders.[9][10] Not all breeders sell registered pedigree cats.[11] In France, approximately 4% of cats are pedigreed.[a] Worldwide the number of pedigreed cats is somewhat lower, and is estimated at approximately 1–2%.[b]
By definition all cats belonging to a specific breed are pedigreed cats with a known and formallyregisteredancestry with one of thecat registries, also known as the cat’s “paperwork” or pedigree.[16][11] Thelist of cat breeds is quite large: mostcat registries actually recognize between 30 and 75[17] breeds of cats, and several more are in development, with one or more new breeds being recognized each year on average, having distinct features (phenotype) andlineage. Nowadays, there exist over 100cat breeds and varieties recognized by at least one of the officialcat registries.[7] The purpose of the registry of cat breeds is to develop and maintain a healthy breed by controllinginbreeding and the spread ofhereditary diseases, and regulating the well-being of the cats.[18][19][20]Owners and breeders compete incat shows to see whose animal bears the closest resemblance (bestconformance) to an idealized definition, based onbreed type and thebreed standard for each breed.[21]
Modern breeders created cat breeds, which are actually felinehybrids between awild cat species and the domestic cat species (Felis catus ). A famous example of such a hybrid cat breed is theSavannah cat (Felis catus ×Leptailurus serval ), which is produced by crossing wildservals with domestic cats.[7]
Somenatural, ancient breeds of cat that have a distinctphenotype were formerly considered or speculated to be subspecies of wild cats or domestic cats (Felis catus), or hybrids between them. Later genetic research shows that only one wild cat species was domesticated; the north African and southwest Asian wild cat (Felis silvestris lybica).[22] All domestic (non-hybrid) cats and cat breeds fall under the domestic cat (Felis catus), and are no longer considered separate (sub)species.[23] The domestication of theFelis silvestris lybica started around 9.000 years ago in theNear East andEgypt region,[22] while theselective breeding of purebred/pedigreed cat breeds only started 150 years ago.
Written and oral histories of various animals or pedigrees of certain types of horse have been kept throughout history, thoughbreed registry stud books trace back to about the 13th century, at least inEurope, when pedigrees were tracked in writing, and the practice of declaring a type of horse to be a breed or a purebred became more widespread.
Certainhorse breeds, such as theAndalusian horse and theArabian horse, are claimed by aficionados of the respective breeds to be ancient, near-pure descendants from an ancient wild prototype, though mapping of the horse genome as well as themtDNA andy-DNA of various breeds has largely disproved such claims.
Most domesticatedfarm animals among others can also have true-breeding breeds andbreed registries, particularlycattle,water buffaloes,sheep,goats,donkeys,guinea pigs,chickens,fancy pigeons,domestic ducks,rabbits, andpigs. While animals bred strictly for market sale are not always purebreds, or if purebred may not be registered, most livestock producers value the presence of purebred genetic stock for the consistency of traits such animals provide. It is common for a farm's male breeding stock in particular to be of purebred, pedigreed lines.
In cattle, some breeders associations make a difference between "purebred" and "full blood". Full blood cattle are fully pedigreed animals, where every ancestor is registered in the herdbook and shows the typical characteristics of the breed. Purebred are those animals that have been bred-up to purebred status as a result of using full blood animals to cross with an animal of another breed.
Artificial breeding viaartificial insemination orembryo transfer is often used in sheep and cattle breeding to quickly expand, or improve purebred herds. Embryo transfer techniques allow top quality femalelivestock to have a greater influence on the genetic advancement of a herd or flock in much the same way that artificial insemination has allowed greater use of superior sires.[25]
A breed is a group of domestic animals related through common ancestors andvisibly similar in most characteristics, having been differentiated from others by human influence; a distinctive group of domesticated animals differentiated from the wild type under the influence of man, the sum of the progeny of aknown and designated foundation stock without admixture of other blood.
The majority of wild progenitors and their domestic derivatives share the same name, but in the 17 cases considered...[includingFelis silvestris] the wild and domestic forms have been separately named and this has created confusion.