Page 28 - SOMOS FOA EDICION ESPECIAL

MATTE MUTATION

History

The first phenotypically different specimen emerged in 2008, in the city of Banfield, Buenos Aires,
Argentina. It was produced from the crossing of two classic black reds in the breeding of Mr. Fabián
Caimi, a well-known black reds breeder in Argentina.

As has happened with other already recognized mutations, the specimen with a different appearance
from its siblings had neurological problems and died shortly after leaving the nest. An attempt was
made to cross again in order to achieve birds with this phenotype, but each time one was born, the
final result was the same.

The lineage of the parents of the new phenotype was not entirely clear, it occurred shortly after the
breeder made several additions of specimens to his stock and the ascending family tree was impossible
to reconstruct. However, as the years went by, this phenotype began to appear more often, not only
in his hatchery, but also in the aviaries of colleagues to whom Fabián had given specimens.

Little by little, surviving birds began to appear, although their neurological and locomotor problems
made it impossible to fix the new phenotype.

What we were sure of was that it corresponded to a mutation, of recessive behavior, since they were
always born of carriers and among the survivors we found specimens of both sexes, which guaranteed
us that it was an autosomal factor.

With the passing of time the appearance of this phenotype began to spread throughout the country,
even reaching neighboring countries such as Brazil and recently its emergence in Europe, after
transfers between hatcheries, also known as "roano".

In recent years, in our country, different breeders have shown interest in fixing the mutation. One of
them was Mr. Marcelo Bel, OMG judge of the color canaries section, who in his aviary has managed to
fix the mutation, solving the neurological problems in a large part of his stock and already presenting
the phenotype in mosaic specimens, in the background yellow and red, canaries with a white
background, in black and brown melanin types.

Name

The name is based on the effect itself caused by the mutant factor under study. In design, the term
“matte” is used to describe dull, opaque tones. Effect that we can clearly observe in the specimens
that have this mutation when compared with a classic birds.

It is also a term very strongly identified with our country, referring to the well-known infusion made
with “yerba matte” leaves (Ilex paraguariensis) that is usually drunk in Argentina and other South
American countries.