Aussie Finch Forum

Wow that got your attention didn't it.
What is a Hybrid? A hybrid is a bird or animal that is produced by the crossing of 2 creatures that are not the same. This can happen naturally, but is far more likely to happen at the instigation of human beings.
What is a Mule? A mule is a hybrid that is not fertile. In theory this is the majority of hybrids. And type wise this is probably so. But because some different but closely related types of birds are more likely to be accidently or intentionally crossed mules may not be the result of these close crosses. e.g. Lonchura species.
What is a Mutation? Now this is different entirely. Mutations are natuarlly occuring changes within a species. Some mutaions thrive because they are better adapted to the environment in which they occur, or are helped by peoples possative reaction to them. And some rapidlly die out because they are weak or just don't take or appeal to people.
Look forward to other people input and oppinions.
LML

this ones a spectator sport for me . Kinda hybrided out this week , seems to be the hot topic on all sites and pages lately .

Have fun kiddies .

Never quite understood the adverse reaction to hybrids given the status of live imports here.........some of the foreign finches we have are hybrids ......at least if the oriignal "material" is there in the hybrid and it is still fertile then re-synthesis of the original stock is always a possibility.........
A hybrid that is still fertile is of much more use than a sterile mule..........

An example? the paranoia over Javan muni hybrids back when the "real" species was common.........now they are all hybirds and people are doing a terrific job of trying to breed back to the original looking bird ( I say "looking" given that they are behaviourly miles apart from the original) still, better than nothing.........ergo the "previously much frowned upon hybrids" come into their own as a way of preserving major aspects of the species..........

The poor old mule aint got much going for him except a song in the case of some males.................mutations??...........as the good gene books say around 96% of all mutations are never expressed due to lethal genes and problems with expression and at least we can get rid of the mutation and recover the original species.................dash hard when pied enters the equation though..............don't like dominant mutations for that reason!!!

Dominant mutations are much easier to get out of a line than a recessive one that hangs around for generations then pops it's head up....at least with a dominant mutation you know when it's there or not. I'm a bit like Deb all hybrided out this week, seems to be the hot topic on nearly every site....suffice to say I think it is a real problem especially in parrots at the moment and i'm yet to get a good answer to the question of WHY? I really can't see why a hybrid is attractive to anyone especially with the chance it's never going to be anything but a pretty pet.

Best answer to my question of why this week was " I breed hybrids to match your curtains and lounge for the pet trade " he was serious too , breeding normal birds lost its appeal so he went into hybrids .

What can I say ? least the man was honest .

Yeah I know I put in an order lol

Thats was you

Ah so hybrids are breed for a fashion type thing, since I don't have curtains but blinds I'll have to put me in an order for a vertical striped one if you see one let me know.
Finchbreeder i think your answer is spot on as a mule was hard to explain even when it is a hybrid.