More Questions About Marbled Cherryheads

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cdmay

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I guess I have seen well over a thousand imported cherryhead redfoots up close over the years... many more than that in total, but up close, I would say over a thousand. What I have noticed is that many of the really marbled adult animals seem to be lacking bright color. True, some very marbled cherryheads do in fact have some bright red on them---but in general, the ones with the unusually marbled shells do not have a lot of color on their legs or heads. Here are some examples:
This is a small adult female with a gorgeous carapace but not much color...

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This is another smallish adult female with a very marbled shell and yet what color she has seems quite muted. She is really neat looking nonetheless...

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This is a fairly good sized (beautiful!) marbled female that also has a lot of color but once again, it isn't red...

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Lastly, take a look at this male. What a BIZARRE little beast he is!

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Who stole all of his color?

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As you can see, he has almost no color on his legs and very little on his head. You can also see that he has been fighting with other males from the scuffs on his face. This male has to be one of the strangest cherryheads I've ever seen.
So I am wondering, is there some genetic trait that goes along with the marbling that also controls color?
 

terryo

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Carl, Pio had some marbling , and when she started to go out for the Summer two years ago, it disappeared completely. She has very little color on her legs, and not too much on her head. Also I noticed that the marbling that was coming in was very white. Gone now.

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Madkins007

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Really interesting! I can think of lots of reasons this might happen, but of course it is all theory. Better camo, stress 'sapping' color, a combination of the two, micronutrients...
 

N2TORTS

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Madkins007 said:
Really interesting! I can think of lots of reasons this might happen, but of course it is all theory. Better camo, stress 'sapping' color, a combination of the two, micronutrients...

Excellent answer! .... I would agree with those theories very logical none the less.... and Mr Carl ...that last male is AWESOME!

JD~:)
I too find the most marbled torts in my herd are of different colors " not true red" ....although there are a few exceptions.
 
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