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RE: Eye shapes/pupils
When I say problem I mean it more in the mathematical sense than the psycho-social sense.
The name of the problem I am referring to is Genetic Drift. Simply stated (maybe overly simple, but hopefully clear enough) this is the tendency of a population to exhibit one value to the exclusion of all others. There is a critical prerequisite for this to occur: the trait must not effect fitness to survive and breed.
In terms of Eye Shape, for instance, this says that if the breeder is completely ignoring Eye Shape, while concentrating on other traits, their populations will tend, over time, to become either exclusively Curious or exclusively Mysterious. The longer the breeder ignores Eye Shape, the more likely this is to occur, and the deeper the problem becomes in their population, once it does.
Now, an experienced breeder will, of course, select for ALL traits. So, the prerequisite is violated for that population and Genetic Drift will not occur; and drift in the gene pool is under the direction of the breeder.
A less experienced breeder, however, might completely ignore Eye Shape while working hard to get the the right Eye Color and Fur with and Ear and Tail; only to find, when having reached those goals, that they have NO Curious (or Mysterious) genes left in the line. They will then be faced with crossing the Eye Shape trait in, diluting, or even hiding, their chosen Fur, Eye Color, etc. Effectively falling back to some earlier state in their breeding program and having to, once again, pull those traits back to the fore.
Yes, I will admit, this is all most important to those who push for trait counts, especially 9T specimen. The fact is, however, that is the major segment of the market.
Adding addition Eye Shapes or Pupil Sizes would make it MUCH easier to get a '9T' since, with more possible values, the Genetic Drift experienced by those less-skilled breeders will be more likely to fall on a 'counted' value rather than Curious/Big simple because there are more values.
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