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En febrero pasado tuvo lugar el Semi-Anual meeting TICA 2003. Las actas oficiales de esta reunión, en fichero pdf, pueden verse o descargarse pulsando aquí. A esta reunión acuden, además del Board TICA, los Directores Regionales de las distintas regiones en que esta federación se divide geográficamente: Chieko Ohira (Asia), Cynthia Skipchak (Great Lakes), Edith Mary Smith (Great Plains), Louise Van DeWater (Northeast), Marcel Lowyck (Europa Norte), Alice Rhea (Northwest), James Dickie (Mid Atlantic), Pamela Barrett (Mid Pacific), Don Carruthers (Soth Central), Genevieve Basquine (Europa Sur), Bob Mullen Southwest), Frances Young (Legal Advisor) y Laurie Schiff (Legal Advisor). Las próximas convocatorias son las siguientes: .
.
La
Asociación Felina Española (ASFE), afiliada a FIFe, celebró el pasado
mes de abril una asamblea general extraordinaria. Los temas acordados son realmente
importantes y novedosos. Los resumimos a continuación, a la espera de la
información oficial de ASFE: *
Se establece una junta provisional, encargada de mantener el
funcionamiento de la asociación hasta las próximas elecciones
(presumiblemente a principios del 2004). Esta junta está formada por los
cargos habituales, más un vocal por cada una de las secciones
territoriales y otro por los clubs de raza. *
Todos los socios serán socios directos de ASFE. En lo que respecta a
votaciones, sufragio universal (una persona, un voto). Sólo se admite un
voto delegado por persona. La afiliación a un club es voluntaria pero no
obligatoria. *
Los socios tramitarán directamente con ASFE, sin intermediarios. * Se levantan las restricciones al Club Felino de Madrid (WCF): con el pago de la deuda que mantenía este club con ASFE, los socios del CFM podrán exponer sin restricciones en exposiciones FIFe-España. Los gatos de socios del CFM sumarán certificados obtenidos en exposiciones FIFe para conseguir títulos FIFe, sin necesidad de homologaciones añadidas. Los otros dos clubs WCF españoles, ASFEGA (Galicia) y ASFeC (Catalunya), siguen sujetos a las rstricciones aprobadas en su día por ASFE.
. Margaret Leleithner (Alemania, juez Cat.I y II), hizo efectiva su ya anunciada renuncia al cargo de Vicetesorera de FIFe en Enero 2003 aduciendo razones estrictamente personales. El cargo se reelegirá en la próxima Asamblea General de finales de mayo 2003. Eveline Preiss (Austria, juez AB), ha presentado su dimisión como miembro y portavoz de la Comisión de Jueces y LO de FIFe, efectiva a partir del 8 de abril 2003, y también su renuncia como juez FIFe a partir del próximo 1 de julio 2003. Es una dimisión tan rápida como inesperada.
GENETICS:
THE STRANGE ALLIANCE BETWEEN AGOUTÍ AND TABBY,
by
Jean-Paul Maas (Int. All Breed Judge, ICF member, ICF’s Quarterly
editor). PART III: OTHER
THEORIES
Already in the 1970s Dr. Piet Prosé, pharmacist and retired army dispenser, amateur geneticist, founder of the Dutch Independents, felt that three tabby alleles, Ta, T and tb, all on the same locus, could not explain alone all tabby phenomena in a satisfactory way. He thought that there must be at least two different genes and their alleles at work on different loci (plural of locus), the one responsible for tabby markings on head, legs and tail, the other for markings on the torso. No professional feline geneticist shared his views at that time, nor shares them now for that matter. Yet
another Dutch cat fancier, Mrs. Maria Falkena-Röhrle, an experimental
breeder of crosses of all sorts of small wild cats with mainly
Abyssinians, has written a very interesting (for those who happen to be
able to read Dutch that is) book about her experiments, “De tamme
wilden en de wilde tammen” (“The domesticated wild ones and the
wild domesticated ones”), DEMIWEB Publishing Solutions (no place
mention- ed), 1998, ISBN 90 901 1662 1. She observes that there are two
sorts of arrangements of tabby patterns with cats: vertically and
horizontally. Most wild cats, she writes, present a vertical tabby pattern. She mentions by name the Asian tiger (Panthera tigris), the European Wild Cat (Felis silvestris), the African Yellow Cat (Felis lybica) and the Jungle Cat (Felis chaus), which all present a vertical pattern, either permanently or in their youth. On
the other hand she observes a horizontally arranged pattern with the
Jaguar (Panthera onca), the Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), the Margay
(Leopardus tigrinus), the Geoffroy’s cat (Oncifelis geoffroyi) and the
Oncilla (Oncifelis pardinoides). All these cats live in South America. To
complicate things, she continues, there are also cats from South-East
Asia, which present a horizontally arranged pattern, like the Bengal
(Felis bengalensis). She thinks that the system of genes controlling a
vertical arrangement is different from the system of genes controlling a
horizontal arrangement. She also mentions the possibility that a dormant
tabby pattern genes system present within the genes pool of the
Abyssinian, which it would have inherited from its ancient ancestor, the
African Yellow cat (Felis lybica), is triggered into appearance by the
hybridization with small wild cats, rather than derived from the
Abyssinians’ wild partners. Interesting
as these guesses are, they lack even the beginning of proof. Her
hybridization experiments by the way, if desirable at all, could not be
repeated now because of new European legislation, which makes import and
keeping of exotic animals illegal. In
the fourth edition (1999, reprinted 2000) of Robinson’s Genetics
for Cat Breeders and Veterinarians, ISBN 0-7506-4069-3, a new
multi-gene theory is mentioned. For the greater part a team of authors has
rewritten this edition after Robinson’s death. There, one of the four
co-authors, Lorraine M. Shelton, lecturer in the field of avian and feline
genetics, responsible for the parts about color and breed genetics,
reports that the genes for feline tabby patterns are placed on at least
two, probably three different loci. She writes the following: >>
It had been believed for many years that the three forms of tabby pattern
were inherited as an allelic series; however, it now appears as if at
least two, and probably three, different loci are responsible for the
various tabby patterns (Lorimer, 1995). At one locus is the Abyssinian or
ticked tabby pattern, which is epistatic to both mackerel and to blotched
tabby patterns. At another locus are the alleles for mackerel and blotched
tabby patterns, with mackerel dominant to blotched. At another locus there
appears to be a modifying gene for either the classic or mackerel
patterns, resulting in the spotted tabby pattern. Other modifying factors
are undoubtedly present, resulting in the wide variety of striped and
spotted patterns seen in our various cat breeds." The
symbols for the three patterns have traditionally been: Abyssinian, Ta;
Mackerel, T; and blotched tb. However, as recent
evidence has demonstrated that these forms are not allelic, a different
nomenclature, by convention, should be used. It has been proposed to use
the letters Mc to represent the dominant mackerel tabby pattern,
while mc will represent the recessive classic, blotched tabby
pattern. The letter T, therefore, would indicate the ticked tabby
locus. Thus T would represent the Abyssinian form of tabby pattern
and t would represent the absence of this pattern. Expression
of the Abyssinian pattern may manifest itself in two ways:
There
is variation in the expression of the markings and it is not impossible
for some homozygotes to have faint markings. However, the two forms
usually can be distinguished. There
appears to be at least two forms of the spotted tabby pattern. The first
is a modification of the mackerel or blotched pattern in which the
vertical stripes are discontinuous and take the form of short bars or
spots. Modification of the blotched tabby pattern is seemingly responsible
for the attractive round “Ocicat” type spots. Breeding data suggest a
dominant modifying gene (provisionally symbolized as Sp)
responsible for the spotted tabby phenotype. This change in the appearance
of the stripes is almost certainly refined by polygenic factors. At one
time, it was thought that the spotted tabby could be yet another allele of
the T/tb tabby series. Breeding evidence suggests
that this is not the case, as litters have been produced with all three
patterns in a manner inconsistent with a single locus theory. (Lorimer,
private communication). The
second form of spotting expresses itself in more distinctive, rounded
spots in a more random pattern. The case for a separate genetic allele, is
much stronger for this form. Hybrids between domestic and non-domestic
cats, such as the Bengal breed, demonstrate that distinct spotting
patterns can result from genetic factors obtained through such crosses. A
unique recessive “marble” pattern is seen in offspring of Bengal cats
that are heterozygous for the spotting factor. What
to think? I am an amateur, not qualified to judge in these matters. For
the time being I lack further data. In general I think that one is well
advised to follow the rule of the thumb regarding scientific theories,
which is that when there are more than one conflicting theories to explain
a certain complex of phenomena, both without conclusive proof, the one
that follows the shortest, simplest path towards its explanation, and
needs the least auxiliary sub-theories is the more likely to be true. Seen
from this point of view, the old theory as given in the first part of this
article is still unbeaten. We see a wide variety of tabby patterns,
especially spotted patterns, with wild cats, big and small, which we
don’t see with domestic cats. It might very well be that the outcrosses
with small wild cats, like the Bengal (Felis bengalensis) and the Oncilla
(Oncifelis pardi-noines) have brought one or more new tabby pattern
systems into the genes pool of the domestic cat that cannot be explained
by the traditional theory. Which theory, the tradi-tional one or
Lorimer’s one, proves to be right, time will tell. May be still another
one is needed. In
the mean time the late Roy Robinson is sadly missed. He would have
presented, I am sure, a new theory like Lorimer’s, as yet more
hypothesized than established, with his usual endearing modesty and
intellectual distance. Further
information: *
Vella,
C.M., L.M. Shelton, L.J. McGonagle, T.W. Stanglein, Robinson’s
Genetics for Cat Breeders and Veterinarians, 4th ed., 2nd
printing, 2000, Butter-worth-Heinemann. ISBN
0 7506 4069 3. *
http://genepoole@yahoogroups.com.
This
internet address for those interested in feline genetics is not exactly a
matter of clicking on and there you are. It leads to a general Yahoo
groups site. First click on Science, pets, then cats@, then genepoole
509, then for members, then Join this group, then sign
up now. A UserID and password is required. Is this discouraging enough
in itself, in the terms of service one must agree, among others, to
abstain from any activity that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive,
harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of
another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise
objectionable, which, I am sure, must make joining the group unattractive
for quite some people in the Cat Fancy. On the other hand, joining is free
of charge. There is certainly a lot to be learned from the info available but don’t
expect consistent high quality. Standard of contributions is frustratingly
often more of the cluck-cluck-cluck & quack-quack-quack kind than 24
carat gold. El Consejo de
Ministros de la UE y el Parlamento Europeo (PE) han alcanzado un acuerdo
sobre un nuevo sistema para controlar los traslados de los animales domésticos
dentro del territorio comunitario. El nuevo sistema facilitará los
desplazamientos de los perros y gatos dentro de los países de la UE, además
de incluir medidas más estrictas para la introducción de mascotas
procedentes de terceros países. Estas medidas se recogen
en una propuesta de reglamento consensuada en un comité de conciliación
entre el Consejo y el PE. La nueva normativa entrará en vigor una vez que
sea aprobada formalmente por el Consejo de Ministros y por la Eurocámara. El reglamento unificará
las normas sobre la circulación de animales domésticos y fijará que en
los traslados transfronterizos entre los Estados miembros, salvo Irlanda,
Reino Unido y Suecia, se exija que las mascotas estén vacunadas contra la
rabia. Los animales deberán ser
identificados con un microchip electrónico o, durante un periodo
transitorio de ocho años, con un tatuaje. Además tendrán un pasaporte,
a fin de facilitar los controles veterinarios. La UE autorizará los
traslados de los animales domésticos que por su corta edad no pueden ser
todavía vacunados. En el caso de los animales
que sean trasladados al Reino Unido, Irlanda y Suecia, deberán realizarse
pruebas de anticuerpos para comprobar si las vacunas han sido efectivas. Además, se reforzarán
las reglas que se aplican a los perros y gatos que llegan a la UE de países
terceros, con el fin de evitar la propagación de la rabia. En el caso de
las mascotas de lugares donde la enfermedad es endémica, se exigirá que
sean vacunadas y analizadas tres meses antes de viajar a los países de la
UE, excepto Reino Unido, Irlanda y Suecia, países donde se mantendrá una
cuarentena en caso de movimientos directos. En Reino Unido, Irlanda y
Suecia se aplicarán las mismas normas sobre traslado de animales tras un
período de transición de cinco años, hasta el 2008. Después la Comisión
Europea presentará nuevas propuestas. .
THE RED SERIES OF ORIENTALS When my Mother, Betty Harrison, had
British Blues I tried many times to persuade her to mate a queen out to a
British Cream, but of course she wouldn't! In the 1960's however she
joined forces with Angela Sayer of the 'Solitaire' Cattery in a breeding
programme to create the 'Foreign Lavender' - the modern day Oriental Lilac
- and much to my delight cream and tortie kittens arrived! Amongst the
assortment of Siamese, Chestnut Brown Foreign, and other full colour cats
used as the foundation, were two torties - Blue Zarqún a blue-cream, and
Solitaire Pagan a black-tortie, both were bred from Siamese and 'coloured
cats' and were of decidedly 'Foreign' type which we would today call
'Oriental' At the 1969 Coventry and Leicester
Cat Club Show, to my eternal shame, 'Pagan' escaped from my arms leaving
me dripping with blood and the unforgettable memory of her streaking
across Granby Halls (do they still exist?) in Leicester. She roamed free
for three weeks before she was finally caught by the Caretaker and his
Alsatian, and sent home to Anglesey by train seemingly none the worse for
wear. My Mother let me keep one of Zarqún's
sons; Solitaire Satsuma, Breed 26
'Foreign Apricot'; and Harislau Ginganut
a chocolate tortie daughter of Pagan. We subsequently kept one of
Ginganut's daughters, Harislau Ginnymini. These two chocolate torties were
registered as Breed 26, AOV Shorthair under the description
'Chocolate/Cream'. They had most unusual brindled coats totally unlike
anything either Mum or I had seen before. Ginnimini eventually produced a
really dense beautifully mingled Chocolate Tortie who was registered as Harislau
Chocolate Minotta.
The 'brindled' cats were neutered and I carried on with 'Minotta' the
proper tortie! Some years later we realised, all too late, that these
'brindled torties' were infact TORTIE TICKED TABBY! The irony is that Mum
had Red Abyssinian at the time - a variety we now call Sorrel and not Red!
Had the sex-linked Red Abyssinian existed we would probably have seen a
tortie and would have known what these 'brindled' torties were! The Creams we bred were registered
as 'Apricot' simply because they approached that colour and did not
resemble the colour of Cream British or Persians. We registered Chocolate
Torties and Lilac Torties as "Chocolate/Cream" and
"Lilac/Cream" following the Blue/Cream pattern leaving the term
Tortie solely to the Blacks. Many of the tabby kittens were registered as
'Egyptian' or 'Mau'; and even worse, kittens with no British cats in their
pedigrees were registered as British! A lilac tortie kitten bred by my
mother was registered as Breed No 26 Any Other Variety, on the
registration certificate the breed name is SIAMESES !!!! It must be
remembered that the list of recognised breeds at this time was very small,
and the number of colours very restricted .... we were "at the
cutting edge"! The Cat Fancy was I suppose rather amateurish when
compared to today, but it is possible that maybe, just maybe, not all the
advances have been for the better. By the early 1970s I had became
close friends with Miss Patricia Turner and the late Roy Robinson.
Frequent indeed were the train journeys from Holyhead to London on the
'Irish Mail' or the 'Emerald Isle' and then onwards to Eastbourne,
Uckfield, or Milton Keynes usually to return with yet another Christmas or
Birthday present! My visits to Pat and her husband, John Mais, were
frequent and I soon had a phantasmagoria of coloured cats! My Mother &
I were going down slightly different 'colour' paths, objections were
voiced, and so I registered my own prefix and Minotta was transferred to
my name. She was joined by various cats including Scintilla
Crown Imperial a Red Smoke
male; Scintilla Sugar Icing a
Blue Tortie Silver Shaded female; and Samonola
Honeysuckle a Red Smoke. I had Samonola Honeysuckle at very
short notice when her owner, Mrs Sylvia Scott, had domestic difficulties.
'Pinkie', a mature queen, was heavily in kitten when I collected her from
our mutual friend Pat Turner and within days produced a litter of Cream
and Cream Smoke kittens. I kept Plainsong
Polly Primrose a Cream female and her Cream Smoke brother
Plainsong White Gold. 'Polly' lived to a ripe old age and with my beloved
Foreign White, Ch Scintilla Jou-Lin, was my constant companion for almost
twenty years. There have been other odd cats
along the way ….. 'Aimee' & 'Iffy' two Black Tortie Smoke Cornish
Rex .… and the Blue Cream Persian my Parents refused to keep for me when
I went to college - she returned to her breeder! In fairness to my long
suffering Mum & Dad they did keep quite a bit of livestock for me
…… apart from my Shorthair cats there was one German Shepherd Dog, one
Golden Retriever, three Red and two Blue & Tan Australian Terriers,
fifty or so red and yellow Fancy Pigeons, a sizeable flock of Bantams ….
oh yes and one or two hives of 'Golden Italian' bees! I'm told that as a
child my favourite 'Teddy' was golden coloured - does my love of the
colour really go back so far?! Today, in 2002, you will still find
3 Reds, 2 Apricots and 5 Torties with or without silver in my home plus of
course the odd 'token' non-red! In the last thirty odd years I have bred
reds, creams, apricots and the tortoiseshells in virtually every pattern
and variation recognised in the Oriental. What is "the Red series"? In
the Oriental the Red Series comprises Red, Cream, Apricot, Black Tortie,
Blue Tortie, Chocolate Tortie, Cinnamon Tortie, Lilac Tortie, Fawn Tortie,
& Caramel Tortie. In various other breeds the Silvers would be
referred to as Cameos, Shell Cameos and Particolours. The GCCF recognises
120 variations of the Oriental in the Red Series: in non-agouti
(Self/Torties and Smoke), and in Agouti (the Tabbies and Shaded) with or
without Silver. The various breed numbers are detailed below:
. The Genetics of Red The mode of inheritance of red colouring in the cat
is highly unusual in that it is 'sex-linked'. The 'red' colour is carried
on a sex chromosome and results not only in the mosaic pattern of the
tortoiseshell, but also the specific relationship between gender and
colour. The domestic cat has 18 pairs of chromosomes where each of the
pair is identical to the other, and an additional pair, which can differ
greatly in size, these are the sex chromosomes and are known as the X and
Y chromosomes. In the female both of the chromosomes are of equal size,
and are both X giving a genotype XX, the male however is of genotype XY,
with the Y or 'male' chromosome which can only be present in the male
animal being much smaller than the X chromosome. Each egg produced by a
female will contain an X chromosome, whilst the sperms produced by a male
will contain either the X or the Y chromosome in equal numbers. .
. The gene responsible for red
('orange') colouring is carried on the X chromosome and is symbolised 'O'
for 'Orange'. A male cat can therefore only have one gene for red
colouring, and is therefore either 'O' or 'o'; whereas the female will
have two genes and therefore have genotype OO, Oo or oo. Cats of genotype
'O' and 'OO' will be Red, Cream or Apricot in colour dependant on their
remaining genotype. Cats of 'o' and 'oo' will not be in possession of any
red colouring. Those cats of genotype 'Oo' are the tortoiseshells, or
torties, which are a mixture of both red and non-red colouring and again
the exact colouring will be determined by the remainder of their genotype. The following basic charts show the resultant offspring from the four basic matings between red, tortie and non-red cats. Matings between two reds will produce 100% red kittens (including cream & apricot): .
.
We must return to technical detail
once more if we are to understand a further peculiarity of the red series
cats, and consider the 'masking' effect of some genes - which is totally
different to some genes being 'dominant' and others 'recessive'. The
masking effect of a gene is called epistatis. In the cat the two most
obvious are probably the non-agouti gene (aa) which completely masks or
hides the tabby pattern, and the Dominant White (W_) which totally masks
all other colours. The 'O' gene which affects the
production of pigmentation in the cat's hair converts the normally black
pigmentation to 'orange' pigmentation completely masks the effects of the
agouti and non-agouti genes. The result is that it is impossible to
differentiate VISUALLY between a Red Self and a Red Tabby cat - they are
identical and both appear to be RED TABBY! Equally so in the non-agouti
Tortie (aa Oo) there are frequently clear tabby markings in the red areas
despite the fact that it is not a Tabby (A_ Oo). . Red, Cream and Apricot Cats of genotype O will be males
and those of genotype OO will be females, not all of them will be Red,
some will be Cream or Apricot. Because the 'O' gene is carried on a
separate chromosome to other colours one can regard the Red, Cream and
Apricot cats as being Black, Blue, or Caramel for example with the 'base'
colour hidden by the 'O' gene. The visual colour is determined by the
'base' colour of the cat in accordance with the following chart:
In reality it is visually
impossible to differentiate between the three types of red. I have always
felt that black based reds are a deeper richer colour than chocolate-based
reds, which seem to be a little hotter! This could be just one of my
eccentricities for there is certainly no logic to substantiate it! Indeed
in the feral population red cats will almost certainly be black based, and
they are usually ginger not red! With patience and care it is often
possible to find the odd (and I mean odd) coloured hair on a red cat (with
my cats this has usually been in the tail) and ascertain the base colour
by that method - but of course the only guaranteed proof is from breeding
results! The other clear guide to the base colour is the presence in some
cats of freckles. I have a red female who has a black hair in her tail,
her mother was a chocolate based red and her father who is red also has
the odd black hair in his tail and very definite black freckles on his
nose leather - his sire a black ….. I know that a Black Tortie Silver
will pop up in the fullness of time! 'Freckles' are another oddity of
red cats. Freckles are of course spots of pigmentation of the basic colour
of the cat and can occur on the nose leather, lips or ears of red, cream
and apricot cats, though in the last two colours they are seldom readily
visible. In the Red however they will be of either Chocolate or Black
pigment and will be clearly visible especially in the latter colour.
Invariable freckles do not show in kittenhood but appear as tiny pinpricks
of pigment in early adulthood. As time passes the freckles grow in size
until they are the size of match-heads. In the worst cases of course they
will join up and form irregular black patches. I had a wonderful old Red
Smoke female whose nose and lips were more than 50% black by the time she
was eight years old, additionally she had the filthiest looking ears you
could image - but of course black pigmentation doesn't wash off!! In the early days of the Foreign
White the mating to red series Siamese was frowned upon because of the
very high possibility of nose freckles, which were a disqualifying fault.
In 1978 I bought a very beautiful and stylish White kitten - I neither
showed her nor bred from her because at 8 months old a freckle started to
develop. Equally matings to Blue, Chocolate and Lilac Points were not
recommended in the early days of the Foreign White because of the
resultant pale eye colour. Dominant White is also epistatic in that it
masks the underlying coat colour of the cat but does not prevent freckles
or alter eye colour. It is sad that such matings are now routine with the
result that 'Turner Blue' eyes are seldom seen, and black freckles have
become totally acceptable …… The colour of red varies greatly in
the cat, and the ideal colour in a show cat is far removed from the
average 'ginger' or 'marmalade' moggy. In Orientals I look for a deep
intense 'rusty chestnut' red with a hot vibrancy to it. The depth or
intensity of colour is not determined entirely by the 'O' gene, or indeed
by the masked base colour, but is the result of the action of polygenes.
Unfortunately it is not possible to quantify or notate polygenic
inheritance and breeders must therefore select breeding cats that
demonstrate their presence. There is a group of polygenes or 'enhancers'
that affect the richness and depth of colour and is usually referred to as
'ruffism'. In Chocolate, Cinnamon and the red series selection for the
effect of these polygenes is essential - in their absence the colours will
lack warms and be a poor relation of the best colour form. In Silvers of
course the presence of these same polygenes is highly undesirable because
they produce tarnishing. There is no visual difference
between the three creams either. As a breeder and judge I look for a very
soft warm 'powdery' cream totally devoid of any hot ginger tones. Good
Creams do tend to look as if they have been thoroughly dusted with baby
powder, something which is far removed from the 'metallic' effect seen on
an apricot. The Apricots are of course Creams
that also have the Dilute Modifier (Dm) gene in their makeup. By and large
they are an attractive colour, but I personally do find a good Cream to be
more attractive! The Apricot is a slightly more intense colour than the
Cream and usually has a hotter flush to it. Like the Caramel the Apricot
invariably has a metallic sheen especially over the head; this must not be
confused with the powdery effect of a good coloured cream! One thing which causes me some
irritation is that since Apricot was given full recognition by the GCCF
very many breeders seem to register kittens as Apricot, even though there
is no indication in their colour, or much probability from their pedigree
that they are anything other than Cream. Apricot seems to be the
fashionable 'in colour'. What is wrong with Cream? A 'hot' cream is NOT
apricot! Under artificial lighting, particularly in some sports halls, it
is just not possible to tell Cream from Apricot - but in clear daylight
there should be no difficulty. I have a reputation for marking
cats 'Not as Registered', but I do so only when I am totally confident
that my decision is correct - if there is any room for doubt I do not do
so. When there is no access to natural lighting, or a 'daylight' lamp, I
think it is extremely foolish to make decisions as to the actual colour of
Cream or Apricot and withhold awards accordingly. My logic is that both
are accepted and shown in the same class under GCCF - unless there is very
good natural light and an animal is obviously wrongly registered I will
not mark them 'Not as Registered' or otherwise penalise them. If you read
my show reports you will note that from time to time I make the comments
'would like to see in natural daylight' - this refers to exhibits where I
have a suspicion that colour is not in accord with registration! I am very
critical of Judges who question the colour of Cream & Apricot under
artificial lighting, and equally critical of those who make an award to an
incorrectly registered cat where natural lighting is available!
Unfortunately few judges have bred red, cream and apricot and seem to be
of the opinion that a 'hot' cream, or even worse a very soft powdery
cream, is apricot! © John S. Harrison (2002) .
El estudio científico de la cognición animal está basado en la noción de que algunas de las cosas que hacen los animales dependen del hecho de que poseen representaciones mentales del mundo, que pueden manipular independientemente de las conductas estímulo-repuesta. Ciertamente nuestra curiosidad cotidiana sobre la mente de los animales consiste en gran medida en preguntarnos qué es lo que ven, entienden y sienten en sus mentes. ¿Cómo podrían ser esas representaciones? ¿Qué es lo que ven los animales, sobre qué piensan, qué perciben y qué sienten? La respuesta más conservadora es: absolutamente nada. Esto no quiere decir que los animales carezcan de sensibilidad, o que no sean más que máquinas inertes. Significa, simplemente, que puede que no haya ninguna manera relevante de describir cómo son las representaciones del mundo de los animales. Sabemos que los animales no tienen una representación lingüística del mundo. El problema es que las representaciones no lingüísticas pueden ser literalmente indescriptibles: ni visuales, ni ismbólicas, ni nada por el estilo. Consideremos los modelos de los animats: el animat de la rana atrapamoscas de alguna manera tiene una representación del espacio, pero esta es una representación que está repartida entre los circuitos de control de 3 conductas diferentes y la fuerza relativa de las señales en estos circuitos. Los cálculos o transformaciones que aplica la rana a las señales externas que le llegan de su ambiente son parte intrínseca de la manera en que están distrinuidas sus conexiones. Como se decía en una conferencia científica hace poco, "cuando decimos que un animal percibe un intruso, no queremos decir que el animal use una frase del tipo <hay un intruso enfrente>; más bien queremos decir que el animal se encuentra en un estado neural relacionado con el mundo de tal manera que un observador puede describirlo con dicha frase". El robot de grillo de Webb puede encontrar una pareja sin tener ninguna imagen visual de lo que es una pareja, ninguna imagen auditiva del canto de un macho, ningún mapa de su terreno almacenado, y ningún sentido de la dirección. No sería incorrecto decir que sus nervios auditivos estén conectados de tal manera que hay alguna "representación" del canto correcto almacenada en ellos, pero esta representación existe sólo de una manera funcional que no lleva por sí misma a ninguna imagen o símbolo que nuestra imaginación pueda evocar. No hay ningún equivalente pictórico o simbólico. Podemos figurarnos analogías tales como listas, prototipos, pictogramas o secuencias, pero no guardan relación con la realidad que las imágenes familiares que usamos en la física moderna para describir fenómenos subatómicos. "Ondas" y "partículas" son cosas que podemos visualizar; son imágenes exytraídas de nuestra experiencia cotidiana; pero eso es todo lo que son cuando hablamos de mecanismos cuánticos. La luz en realidad no está formada por pequeñas partículas, y tampoco es una onda; de hecho la luz sólo se puede describir de manera completa en un formato matemático, una abstracción que no corresponde en ningún momento a un dibujo físico. Tanto en estudios con animales como con seres humanos se han obtenido datos que apuntan sólidamente a que incluso las imágenes visuales no se almacenan en nuestra mente como imágenes de verdad. Estudios pioneros de la actividad de las células nerviosas del córtex visual de los gatos revelaron que un gran porcentaje de procesamiento visual, y la categorización de distintos tipos de imágenes, es automático y está incorporado en las conexiones nerviosas. Las células nerviosas de la primera capa del córtex responden sólo a la presencia o ausencia de luz en un determinado punto del campo visual. Pero estas células alimentan una segunda capa de "células complejas" que responden a líneas verticales y horizontales. A su vez, éstas alimentan a "células hipercomplejas", que se activan en función de determinadas formas, por ejemplo, una esquina. Investigaciones posteriores encontraron otras células que respondían a formas todavía más complejas. Las ranas tienen células "detectoras de bichos" que se activan cuando detectan una especie de mancha en el campo visual. Algunas células del cerebro de los monos responden a formas de monos, o caras; algunas incluso parecen ser sensibles a la cara de un mono en particular. Una neurona activa no es una palabra, ni un pictograma, ni un símbolo; es únicamente una neurona activa. ¿Tiene una rana una representación mental de un insecto? ¿O la representación mental es sólo una función de sus conexiones neuronales? Tanto los modelos de animats como la investigación de animales reales, parecen indicar que no es necesario tener conocimientos, creencias, o modelos visuales de un insecto para poder reconocerlo. La idea de que las imágenes mentales son en realidad una ficción imaginaria se ha visto apoyada por investigaciones con monos que muestran cómo las imágenes visuales individuales en realidad se almacenan en varias localizaciones diferentes del cerebro. De lo cual se deriva que no pueden almacenarse como imágenes, sino como representaciones desintegradas de imágenes que, de nuevo, desafían nuestra capacidad de describirlas en términos que podamos entender. Algunos experimentos neurofisiológicos con monos muestran cómo las células del lóbulo temporal del cerebro son sensibles a las formas de los objetos y al color, mientras que las células del lóbulo parietal reaccionan a la posición de los objetos. Destruir el lóbulo temporal hace que los monos sean incapaces de discriminar patrones, pero les deja con la habilidad de distinguir posiciones; la destrucción del lóbulo parietal lleva exactamente al efecto opuesto. Quizá lo más interesante de todo sean las investigaciones con humanos que muestran que, cuando se les pide a los sujetos que evoquen conscientemente imágenes visuales, la figura se construye pieza por pieza. Se enseñaba a los sujetos bloques que formaban letras dibujadas en una parrilla de cinco por cuatro; entonces se les enseñaba una parrilla sin bloques y se les preguntaba si los bloques que formaban una letra dada cubrirían uno o dos cuadrados que aparecían marcados con una "X": .
. El tiempo que tardaban los sujetos en contestar era directamente proporcional al número de segmentos de que constaba la letra. (Una "E", por ejemplo, tiene cuatro segmentos, mientras que una "F" tiene sólo tres). Los sujetos necesitaban más tiempo para contestar cuando la "X" estaba en el segmento de la letra que la gente normalmente deja para el final al escribirla con mayúsculas. Los estudios psicológicos han puesto de manifiesto que los sujetos humanos son especialmente poco fiables al describir pensamientos simbólicos, de naturaleza pictórica o no lingUísticos. Hay diferencias espectaculares de una persona a otra; algunas personas describen sus pensamientos no lingüísticos apoyándose en vívidas formas simbólicas; otros no mencionan un solo símbolo. Cuando se comparan estos relatos con mediciones de lo que está haciendo realmente el cerebro, siempre aparecen incoherencias. Por ejemplo, la mayoría de la gente dice que, cuando evocan activamente la imagen visual de una letra o de un objeto sencillo, la imagen "simplemente surge en su cabeza, ya formada, de golpe". Pero los experimentos que acabamos de describir muestran que la realidad es muy distinta; las partes del objeto "simplemente surgen en su cabeza!, pero de una en una (porque han sido almacenadas en el cerebro como una colección de partes individuales) y, después, (en algún área separada del cerebro) se les añaden las instrucciones necesarias para poder combinarlas de nuevo espacialmente. ¿Qué "aspecto" tienen estos trocitos de información almacenados separadamente? De nuevo, la única respuesta acertada es "ninguno". La mayoría de los científicos cognitivos toma el término de "representación" como una simple noción conceptual; su meta es determinar qué es lo que hace la mente, y permanecer alejados del terreno inexplorado de lo que un animal experimenta subjetivamente sobre lo que hace su mente. Los estudios neurofisiológicos están empezando a explicar la naturaleza subyacente de las representaciones y las operaciones que llevan a cabo los animales cuando crean mapas, reconocen objetos e indivíduos, aprenden listas, etc. De esta manera estamos tomando el único camino posible para un entendimiento real de la conciencia animal. . De
los tres gatos azules clásicos, el Azul Ruso es el que tiene un tipo más
esbelto: sumamente elegante, relativamente alto y largo, una cabeza
cuneiforme y una cola larga. Además, cuenta con una particularidad
remarcable: la disposición, constitución y color de su pelo.
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