Anyone hear what happend to the Albinos?

[Alwese]

About 5 years ago, two Albino macaws appeared in a clutch of B&Gs in Texas. They have to be the rarest things on the planet. They appear to be yellow as you are viewing the blood in their feathers. Has anybody heard what happened to them? Here is a pic; at this age don't they look like little pre-historic monsters? Click thumbnail to enlarge.

 

[JerseyWendy]

This is the only thing I was able to find about them:
CritterBreeders - Your source for your Pet Birds, supplies and information

And yes, they look a bit scary, don't they? The link shows one of them grown up

 

[coral3]

The adult pictured is just gorgeous! His colouring makes me think of custard.

 

[horsesculpter]

More Pictures - Gary's Golden Macaws
These birds were just at the AFA convention in San Antonio, Tx. Sadly I missed it. They reportedly are now to the point where there are some available for sale.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

Thanks for posting everyone. This is really interesting. I never heard of them before now. So I guess he is breeding all relatives since he only had the two, starting with brother and sister. I wonder how that affects the genetic line? So far they claim they are healthy.

I wonder if other B&G's recognize them as being the same species, or if it goes beyond visual.

 

[MaraWentz]

He's not breeding them together. It was a rare incident that wasnth on purpose. He will be breeding them with others as well as Thierry parents again as it's just an accidental gene mutation. He can't inbreeding as it results in many defects and fatality even.

 

[Quetzal]

Hmm usually color mutations like this coincide with health problems in other species I would be hesitant to jump on the albino band wagon until associate problems were discovered and divulged.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Hmm usually color mutations like this coincide with health problems in other species I would be hesitant to jump on the albino band wagon until associate problems were discovered and divulged.

What type of health problems are you referring to?

 

[MaraWentz]

I doubt it was health issues causing it, but usually albino are linked to deafness and blindness. These were two of his normal breeders that gave him quite a surprise

 

[MonicaMc]

These are lutinos, not albinos.

Although the "ino" gene is considered to be sex-linked, this particular mutation is recessive. This means that yes, inbreeding is happening!


As I understood it, the parents of the original lutinos were/are split lutino, so there may be no inbreeding there... but in order to get this mutation reproduced quickly, inbreeding needs to occur.

If you had the *only* mutation in the world in one species, and the mutation was recessive, if you didn't inbreed, you might "breed out" the mutation and it might not ever show up again...

NS-Ino x Normal
100% Normal split NS-Ino

Normal/NS-Ino x Normal
50% Normal
50% Normal split NS-Ino


It is impossible to tell when a bird is split for a mutation except pied. Most others have no tell tale sign of splits, so if you don't don't which birds are split, and you don't breed all birds, the mutation might disappear.



A little OT, but apparently inbreeding happens in the wild... to what extent, I don't know.... but it probably varies depending on species and population.

 

[MacawGuy]

yea there is a breeder that has lutinos but they wont say there name or anything

 

[Quetzal]

I don't know about bird genetics but I have been breeding and showing dogs for ten years and we try to stay away from such "rare" colorations not only because they aren't standard but also because they usually are rare for a reason, meaning that those who hold the traits usually don't fair well long enough to reproduce. For example deafness and blindness which was already mentioned, double merel death gene, blue mutations, etc. in my breed pointers when you breed predominitly white dogs together without colored heads the incidence of allergies and deafness increases tremendously. But like I said I'm new to large birds but I would be cautious personally.

 

[Quetzal]

Also a quick note inbreeding isn't neccissarily bad. It compounds traits that you are looking to solidify but it can also increase negative traits. Inbreeding needs to be done very carefully by a very experienced breeder who understands thier species genetics. A brother sister mating would be the closest realatives that you could breed together. In dogs those that have tried have had either phenomenal results or completely disasterous results.

 

[Pedro]

We also have a breeder in Australia. They have bred 3 lutinos to date. 1 male & 2 females. Bred from 2 different pairs but the pairs are related to each other. I think the gene must be recessive to be able to produce a lutino from normal parents. The hen would also have to be carrying the gene as well.

 

[MonicaMc]

I only knew of one in Austalia... and no one knew if the mutation in Australia was sex-linked or recessive.


If you get male lutinos from normal parents, then yes, it's recessive.

 

[Pedro]

I am very familiar with genetics. Have been around a long time & have worked with many mutations over the years.

This is a link to the first lutino hatched in Australia, turned out to be a male. Then in 2011 2 hens hatched, from a second pair.

http://www.parrotsociety.org.au/images/magazinelinks/Magic_Mutatations.pdf

This same mag has featured an article on the hens in the July 2012 issue.

 

[Alwese]

Well I'm missing from my post for two days and holy mackeral there is two pages of replies. Many thanks for the links to pictures of the Texas birds and now in Australia! In these recent close up pictures it is amazing how the chest yellow is amplified. Here is yet another interesting mutation I bumped into: P.S. Wendy-how are you doing with the storm coming your way in NJ

 

[MonicaMc]

Amazing! Thanks for that information as well as the link!

I'm guessing that's Shambala, as it sounds just like the newspaper cutout I saw, and just found this, too....

http://www.parrotsociety.org.au/images/homelinks/Shambala-Macaw-Ad.pdf


These photos are much better of her then the newspaper one! I do wonder when they'll combine the mutation with blue to create the true "albino" B&G. Would love to see an "albino" with a black beak! Although I realize that is highly unlikely, considering the genetics and melanin...

 

[Quetzal]

Alwese is there a name for that mutation? it's lovely!

 

[Quetzal]

Macaw mutations.... : Macaw Connection
This link shows pictures of many mutations.