Third White Buffalo

[bvonahsen]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I should have kept silent, since I usually do when I see all kinds of mathematical nonsense on this board.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>I wish you wouldn't, we need more posters like you.<br><br>Frankly, I'm not seeing what the big deal is, white variant animals are not that uncommon. Albinos a little more so. There is a huge difference between the two BTW. I see plenty of white and black squirrels in addition to the usual greys around here. They signal nothing beyond their genetics. Ten to one the farm is producing these animals deliberately. Follow the money. New Age tourist attraction = food on the table. <p></p><i></i>

[chiggerbit]

Anyone know if the white ones have blue eyes? There are a lot of birth defects associated color genetics such as with white in other species, for instance with cats--deafness, particularly, is the frequent result. In overo paint horses, I believe it is overo bred to overo, 25% of the offspring die at birth, if I remember right. <p></p><i></i>

[chiggerbit]

Arrrgh, color genetics is a complicated science. The overo genetic I was talking about is called lethal white overo. Not to sidetrack too much, but this stuff can be very interesting. Some lethal genetic conditions are believed to result in embryonic absorption by the mother's body long before ever reaching birth, which could possibly explain why white buffalo are so rare. <br><br>And has anybody ever hear of freemartinism? Yikes. Doesn't this make a person wonder? I had seen a sad obituary in a local paper about a pair of twin newborns that died, listing some twin in-utero condition which slips my mind at present, that is life-threatening. Then I got to following some links from the Wiki article and saw that something somewhat similar to this can happen with human twins, but the result is one person, with blended genes and body parts of more than one fetus. I'll have to see if I can find it again. I think one of the terms was "chimera" or something. <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.vita-tech.com/downloads/books/Handbook_Large_Animals.pdf#search=%22buffalo%2Blethal%20white%20gene%2Bcolor%20genetics%22">www.vita-tech.com/downloa...enetics%22</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>FreemartinismA freemartin, the infertile female partner born twin to a male, develops as aresult of fusion between the male and female placentae during gestationallowing for the exchange of fluids and hormones. Because the female is sterile,freemartinism is considered to be one of the most severe forms of sexualabnormality in cattle.A freemartin can be detected by the presence of the male Y-chromosome insome circulating white blood cells. Genetic testing for the Y-chromosome can beperformed within days of birth and can aid in the early identification of sterilefemale cattle <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 9/17/06 7:02 pm<br></i>

[chiggerbit]

OK, found the first part"<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin-to-twin_transfusion_syndrome">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twi...n_syndrome</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>"...Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS, also known as Feto-Fetal Transfusion Syndrome (FFTS) and Twin Oligohydramnios-Polyhydramnios Sequence (TOPS)) is a complication with high morbidity and mortality that can affect identical twin or higher multiple pregnancies where two or more fetuses share a common (monochorionic) placenta. Severe TTTS has a 60-100% mortality rate.<br><br>As a result of sharing a single placenta, the blood supplies of the fetuses can become connected, so that the fetuses essentially share a single blood supply. Depending on the number, type and direction of the interconnecting blood vessels (anastomoses), blood can be transferred disproportionately from one twin (the "donor") to the other (the "recipient"). The transfusion causes the donor twin to have decreased blood volume, retarding the donor's development and growth, and also decreased urinary output, leading to a lower than normal level of amniotic fluid (becoming oligohydramnios). The blood volume of the recipient is increased, which can strain the donor's heart and eventually lead to heart failure, and also higher than normal urinary output, which can lead to excess amniotic fluid (becoming polyhydramnios).<br><br>In early pregnancy (before 26 weeks), TTTS can cause both fetuses to die, or lead to severe disabilities. If TTTS develops after 26 weeks, the babies can usually be delivered and have a greater chance of survival without disability.<br><br>Other than requiring a monochorionic-diamniotic twin (or higher multiple) pregnancy, the causes of TTTS are not known, and its incidence is believed to be random.[citation needed] It is not known to be hereditary or genetic.,,,,"<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[chiggerbit]

Ok, getting there.<br><br>The vanishing twin:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanishing_twin">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanishing_twin</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Chimera:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_%28genetics%29">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi...enetics%29</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>"...In zoology, a chimera is an animal which has two or more different populations of genetically distinct cells that originated in different zygotes; if the different cells emerged from the same zygote, it is called a mosaicism. It is either acquired through the infusion of allogeneic hematopoietic cells during transplantation or transfusion or it is inherited. In fraternal twins, chimerism occurs by means of blood-vessel anastomoses. Chimeras were named after the mythological creature Chimera.<br><br>Chimeras are formed from either four parent cells (two fertilized eggs or early embryos are fused together) or three parent cells (a fertilized egg is fused with an unfertilized egg or a fertilized egg is fused with an extra sperm). Each population of cells keeps its own character and the resulting animal is a mosaic of mis-matched parts. An analogy is two jigsaw puzzles cut using an identical cutter, but with different pictures. You can make a single puzzle out of the mis-matched parts, but the completed puzzle will show parts of both different pictures. Chimeras can often breed, but the fertility and type of offspring depends on which cell line gave rise to the ovaries or testes...."<br><br><br><br><br>Mosaicism:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaicism">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaicism</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 9/17/06 7:25 pm<br></i>

[chiggerbit]

Anyway, the point that I'm not doing a very good job articulating is that the science of genetics and embryonic development is still pretty new, and I wonder if the answer to the white buffalo explosion could be a result of more than one process. <p></p><i></i>

[JD]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I should have kept silent, since I usually do when I see all kinds of mathematical nonsense on this board.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I wish you wouldn't, we need more posters like you.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Amen. And a statistician besides..... Yes please keep up with this forum and contribute in whichever ways you feel are helpful!<br> <p></p><i></i>