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Posted by chrish on October 12, 2002 at 12:13:10:
In Reply to: K.E., I have a couple of questions about your snake... posted by sbogill on October 12, 2002 at 01:56:48:
I really just don't get it! Why is this such a big deal to you? (Maybe this has been asked before, but I tend to stop reading replies when it becomes evident that it is just back and forth bickering).
It isn't that strange to me. Let's assume that in this particular region of Kentucky, a genetic mutation occured which results in this aberrant pigmentation pattern (what we incorrectly call calico in the herp hobby). Assume its heritable and that that snake survives and the gene gets passed on to the next generation. Maybe the calico babies have a selective disadvantage and only 5% of them survive to adulthood. E. obsoleta produce enough offspring that this would still allow some individuals to survive, and even if they didn't, the gene would still exist in the heterozygotes.
In fact, it makes more sense that they would find several individuals with the same trait in one area, rather than finding amels popping up here and there (as has happened with other species).
Why do these snakes not look identical? Simple, they exhibit the same aberrancy, but they come from a hypervariable population. If you look at the other pics of rats from this area, there is a lot of variation. You shouldn't expect the mutants to be identical because the pattern of these snakes is obviously polygenic.
I simply don't see how/why you can question the credibility of a person you don't know anything about. Particularly when the proposal he/she has put forward is actually perfectly logical.
