Author:
Kylie Munyard
School of Biomedical Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Date of Publication:
March 20, 2015

Publication:
Alpaca World Magazine

Excerpt:
Over the past seven years the team at the Alpaca Molecular Research group at Curtin University has been researching the inheritance patterns and molecular causes of colour in alpacas. Using a combination of Mendelian genetics principles, molecular genetic techniques, objective chemical analysis of the fibre and observation of skin and nail colour we have been able to arrive at a model that, we think, describes most of the colour variation in alpacas. The current nomenclature for alpaca colours contributes to the confusion. One person’s fawn is another’s light brown and one person’s mid brown is another’s red brown. We therefore propose a new set of names for base colour varieties that reflects the genetic basis of the colour.

Read the rest of the article: https://www.alpacaseller.com/AWMViewFullArticle.php?ArticleID=228