Step
1:
Almond - (The genetic mutation is actually named Stipper, but often known as "almond" in English speaking countries) -
is a dominant, sex-linked, depigmenting mutation -- or change from the
wild-type condition of the pigeon, (Columba livia).
Beside the depigmentation, it does other things, too, and has many
alleles (alternatives), but let’s not worry about those for now.
The only other thing that we’re going to worry about here is that
almond youngsters are born short-downed.
The
fact that almond is a depigmenting mutation means that it cuts the amount of
pigment (coloring material) put into the feathers of the growing bird.
It does this so well that a bird, which would normally feather out as a
blue bar in its nest plumage instead tends to be almost whitish.
As
the bird ages, the mutation seems to turn itself off or to change back to the
wild-type condition in certain areas. In
those areas, the pigment production turns back on again and the new feathers
produced in that area are colored normally.
This colored feathers in these areas of turned on again pigment
production are known as the “break”.
As the bird ages, more and more sections are turned on to pigment
production so old almonds may occasionally look to be normal-colored birds
without the almond factor.
STEP
2:
One
of the biggest sources of confusion about almond is the usage of the word.
There is both the pigeon jargon meaning and the genetics meaning.
Much of the anger expended in suggested standard changes is merely the
result of the first person using one definition and the second person using
another.
If used in its genetics sense, almond refers to Step-1 above.
In that case, almond is merely one of many known mutations in the
common pigeon. It is a mutation
that can be added to any bird of any breed.
It makes no difference what the gene pool of that bird or breed is.
Almond can be attached to it. Whether
or not almond would be an esthetic addition to that breed is not considered.
You could add almond to white Swiss Mondains, but why would you want
to?
In pigeon jargon, at least as used
in English speaking countries, almond refers to almond’s phenotype in
combination with specific other mutations in a particular breed milieu, that
of the English Shortface Tumbler (ESF). This
is due to historical accident and the fact that breeders of these birds named
the color itself. If used in that
manner, it refers to a T-pattern check, heterozygous recessive red, kite
bronze, almond pigeon. There may
be other factors present as well, but that’s what pigeon jargon refers to as
“almond.”
By no means is this the only way
almond is found in ancient breeds. The
Danish Stippers, the Italian Magnani Modenas, the Oriental Rollers, etc., are
all breeds in which almond has been known for centuries. They are also breeds that allow other expressions of almond
than are found in the ESF. Many of these expressions, while vastly different,
are as beautiful as those found in the ESF.
Step
3:
Almond
may be added to any of the pigeon’s base pigments.
These pigments are brown, wild-type (blue-black), and red. You can have a brown bar almond, a blue bar almond, an
ash-red bar almond. Similarly,
you can have a bluecheck almond, an ash-red T-pattern almond, or brown barless
almond. Almond is hidden by some factors, but also interacts with many others
and still shows itself.
One
factor that prevents almond from showing itself is recessive white.
A recessive white almond will simply look white – it will however be
born with short down. - (As will dilute whites and a few
other factored whites, so don't jump to the conclusion that you have almond in
your white family just because you saw a short-downed bird -- though you may
have.) Young bred from such an almond white paired to a
non-recessive white carrying bird will exhibit the almond expression.
They will also follow the rules for sex-linkage as far as almond.
Recessive
red hides many things such as spread, pattern and color.
However, it only partially covers almond.
Recessive red almonds in the blue series are easily distinguishable.
We call them DeRoys. The
recessive red color is washed down a few tones and flecking in a deeper red
occurs as the bird ages. You can
also have recessive red almonds in the ash-red series, or recessive red
almonds in the brown series. So
far as I’m aware, there are no fancier terms for these colors.
Almond interacts with spread. A
spread almond in the blue series is a gray-white bird with black flecking
appearing as the bird ages. Notice
the color of the flecks? In this
case, they’re black because the bird under that almond overcoat is actually
a black bird. If it were a spread brown almond, the flecking would be
brown.
Almond’s expression then, i.e.,
what it looks like on the bird, is dependent on what else is in the bird. You
can also add other factors as well and get something like the Bokhara above:
Indigo, Almond, wild-type.
To
recapitulate:
Step
1: Almond is a sex-linked depigmenting mutation.
Step
2: Pigeon breeders use the word almond in two ways: genetics meaning and
fanciers’ meaning.
Step
3: Almond can be added to any bird or breed.
Its expression in that bird or breed is determined by other factors
present there also.
