The Dominant Cream Zebra
© 1977 Poule d'eau Publishing
The Dominant Cream Zebra is one of the nicest dilute Zebras. Dominant Dilute Fawns (Dominant Creams) are similar to the Dominant Silvers but with a light cream body color rather than silver. These males often have both cheek patches and flanking color matching the color of the body making these features nearly invisible. While this combination is one of the most attractive, it may be difficult for the untrained eye to identify the sexes because the sexual dimorphic features are so dilute.
Female Dominant Dilutes are not always easily distinguished from the other similar colors such as Recessive Silvers or Recessive Creams. However by close examination of the color on the body one can generally tell them apart. Dominant Dilute hens often have a noticeably lighter shade on the wings and tail than that of the bodies. True, recessive Silvers and Creams tend to show consistent shade of color in these areas, often with fewer noticeable differences between body color and wing and tail.
Dominant Dilute is a dominant mutation. A Dominant Dilute (any sex) mated to a zebra of any color will produce at least 50% Dominant Dilutes and 50% normals. A normal bird can never carry the gene for Dominant Dilute. Dominant Dilutes by theory can be bred as double factor or single factor. The two types would be indistinguishable, however their breeding behavior would be quite different.
When breeding Dominant Dilutes, one should select birds that show a combination of the best dilute color; with enough retention of the cheek patch and flank coloration to make these areas noticeable. A frequent fault with some very light Dominant Dilutes, is the near complete absence of visible cheek patches. Continued mating of Dominant to Dominant promotes this. Frequent outcrossing to the normal Greys or Fawns can improve the cheeks and flanking, but may also have an adverse effect on the body color. These outcrossings may bring out undesirable streaking or blotching with brown pigmented areas on the silver body. It is necessary to use both methods of breeding to improve the overall color of Dominant Dilutes. By outcrossing Dominant Dilutes to Greys or Fawns, a wide variety of Dominant Dilute color forms will be produced, some desirable, some not. ©
