Abstract
The scientific literature on cat genetics contains a presumed typical example of natural selection affecting / frequencies (long hair) in 16 Brazilian cat populations. It has been observed that the hotter and more tropical the climate in Brazil, the lower the values of / frequencies in the cat populations. Nevertheless, this study of some new cat populations in Latin America showed that all of them, independent of the climate, had high or very high / frequencies. I postulate that an alternative migrational- historical hypothesis exists that explains the correlation between the / frequencies and climate characteristics (which are correlated with the latitude) without using natural selection explanations concerning the appearance of the / allele in Brazil.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 49-57 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Journal of Heredity |
| Volume | 91 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2000 |