Posted by:
DeMak
at Sun Jun 29 17:23:04 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by DeMak ]
Rodents have been inbred for hundreds of generations. That is how strains of rodents are created. As animals show defects they are removed from the gene pool until all the recessive or unwanted traits are gone. Once the animals is as near to identical as possible, stable and has the traits desired, it is a strain and is maintained by inbreeding.
Not only is inbreeding OK, but it is far less risky than bringing in new animals. The risk of a disease getting into a closed colony that lives in close quarters is too great.
DeMak
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