In the simplest case, the dam and sire are known, are already in the studbook, and can be entered by typing in the correct studbook ID for each (see page 41 on how to enter studbook IDs). If attempts to enter studbook IDs for sire or dam prompt SPARKS to respond with "Dam (or Sire) not recorded in your studbook ...," the studbook number may have been entered incorrectly or the dam and/or sire really is missing. If it is missing from the studbook, then dam and/or sire is uncertain (see below).
If a specimen is wild-caught and nothing further is known about its ancestors, then enter {WILD} for dam ID and {WILD} for sire ID. If there is specific information about the parents (in a managed wild population perhaps), then wild-caught specimens might be added to the studbook for completion of the pedigree. Genetic analysis on the studbook assume that any parent recorded as {WILD} is unique: it is the merit of that specimen only, and is unrelated to all specimens in the studbook except those who descend from that one offspring.
Things are more difficult if the parents are known, but are not yet in the studbook. This can happen if the parents are in the international studbook, or in a regional studbook for a different region. It can also happen if a birth or hatch is reported for parents whose names or studbook numbers have never been recorded in any studbook before. lf the parents are in another studbook (international or another region), then those parents should be assigned regional numbers and added to the studbook. AII ancestors of those newly identified parents should be given studbook numbers and entered in the studbook. it is essential that the studbook trace the ancestors of each specimen back to wild (i.e., to specimens with dam and sire listed as {WILD}), or to specimens of unknown origin. All those ancestors must be in the regional studbook so that any possible relationships among present or future specimens in the population will be documented (see page 41 on assignment of studbook numbers).
If the dam and/or sire is not yet in any studbook, but some information is available on them, then they should be assigned studbook numbers and added to the studbook.
55
Most likely, it will be uncertain if those parents are living or dead; all that will be known are their names or maybe where they had been when the offspring was born. in this case, the parents (in the new studbook entries just made for them) should be recorded as lost-to-follow-up (see page 74 on lost-to-follow-up). Those new parents should be given dams and sires (i.e., the grand-parents of the original specimen that started all this mess) of
(1) {WILD} if the parents are from a game ranch, a breeder that likely got his or her specimens from the wild, or another source that is unrelated to the rest of the population and probably from the wild
or
(2) {UNK} if they probably are (or were) specimens in the studbook population, but there is no information on who they were.
If names,or ID numbers exist for the dam and/or sire, but nothing else is know about them, it is tempting (and easy) to enter those names in the <DAM> and <SIRE> fields (because this would avoid creating studbook records for the newly discovered dam and sire). Unfortunately, genetic and demographic analyses would treat these named, but otherwise unknown parents, as dead specimens whose parents, birth dates, and death dates are unknown! This might be an accurate representation of what is known (or not known) about the dam and sire, but anyone other than the studbook keeper will have a difficult time interpreting this situation. Therefore, a studbook record should be created for each parent, making it explicit what is and is not known about them. Every entry in the dam or sire field should either match the studbook number of a specimen in the studbook or be {WILD} (or {WILD1}, {WILD2}, etc.), {UNK} (or {UNK1}, {UNK2}, etc.), or {MULT} (or {MULT1}, {MULT2}, etc.).
If truly nothing is known about the parents of a specimen, then dam and sire should be entered as {UNK}. This would be the case if the specimen might be either wild-caught or captive-born. If parents are unknown but the specimen came from the wild, then the specimen is wild-caught (see above). Dam and sire would also be entered as {UNK} if the specimen was born in captivity, but there is no information on who the parents could have been. One parent might be known but the other parent is unknown (perhaps the dam in a multi-male, multi-female social group, or perhaps the sire in a herd with one breeding male). In this case, enter the studbook number of the known parent and enter {UNK} for
56
the unknown parent. Just as with {WILD}, genetic analyses will assume that each {UNK} parent is unique (i.e., unrelated to all others in the studbook).
The SPARKS manual (published by ISIS in 1989) recommends leaving the <DAM> and <SIRE> fields blank if absolutely nothing is known about the parents. This is a bad idea. It is hard to know whether a field was left blank because the studbook keeper forgot to enter something, or perhaps didn't have the data on hand and intended to go back and fill it in later, or really had no information about the parentage. If the parents are unknown that should be explicitly acknowledged and recorded by entering {UNK} for the dam and sire.)
BLANK FIELDS ARE AMBIGUOUS -
NEVER LEAVE A SPARKS FIELD
BLANK
(EXCEPT REMOVAL DATE
AND DATE ESTIMATES)
Entering {UNK} for a parent should be the last recourse of a frustrated studbook keeper. Unknowns cause real problems for genetic analyses, demographic analyses, and even documentation of the legal status of a specimen. When a dam or sire is {UNK}, it means there is no clue as to whether the specimen is captive-born or wild-caught, if it is inbred, who its relatives are in the population, or if it is a valuable breeder. The historical record of the population and all management decisions based on that record are compromised when specimens are recorded with either one or both parents as {UNK}. However, if the parents truly are unknown, there is no other option but to enter {UNK}.
Sometimes, there is some information about the likely parentage, but the identity of dam or sire is uncertain. It would be a shame to throw away some of this information, so SPARKS has provided ways to preserve it for posterity. One such case arises when litter mates or nest mates or egg-mass mates are brought into captivity. Often it is either known, or suspected, that they are siblings, but the parents are {WILD} and free. In this
57
case, enter {WILD1} and {WILD2} for the parents of each sibling (or {WILD3} and {WILD4}, etc., if the earlier {WILD} numbers have already been used). Genetic analyses will then correctly use the knowledge that these specimens are siblings that came from a single pair in the wild.
If a pregnant or gravid female is brought into captivity, then the studbook number of the dam would be recorded while the sire would be listed as {WILD}. As above, if multiple offspring result from this litter or clutch, then they should be recorded as siblings by entering {WILD1}, or {WILD2}, or {WILD_} for the sire. A similar situation can arise when a litter (or clutch or brood) is conceived and born (or hatched) in captivity, but the dam and/or sire is unknown. In this case, the unknown parent(s) should be entered as {UNK} ) (and/or {UNK2}, etc.). This will show that the siblings have the same parents, but also indicate that it is not known who those parents are.
When multiple offspring have {UNK1} as a parent, genetic analyses will assume that {UNK1} is a specimen o was a:parent to each of those offspring (but a parent to no one else in the studbook) Thus, while specimens with {UNK} for parents are assumed to be unrelated (each {UNK} is unique), specimens with {UNK1} and {UNK2} for parents are assumed to be siblings.
Occasionally, such as when specimens are housed in large social groups, when muitiple males are rotated through an enclosure with a female, or when artificial insemination is done with semen pooled from multiple males, it might be possible to specify that the sire or dam is one of several known individuals. In these cases, enter {MULT} (or {MULT1}, {MULT2}, etc., if earlier {MULT_} were already used) is used to indicate that any one of several males (or females) could have been the sire or dam. The possible sires or dams for {MULT} must be recorded in a Special Data field.
In genetic analyses, a single sire and dam must be assigned to each specimen. Therefore, the GENES program treats {MULT} in the same way as {UNK} (and {MULT} like {UNK1}). With {MULT} or {UNK} for a parent, during analysis GENES creates a hypothetical founder that stands in for the parent that is totally unknown ({UNK}) or one of a handful of possibilities ((MULT}).
If {MULT} is treated like {UNK}, then why use {MULT} at all? The advantage to using {MULT} instead of {UNK} when the parent is known to be one of several specimens is that the documentation of that information might allow and encourage future determination (perhaps by molecular genetic techniques) of which specimen actually was the parent. It would also be possible {though not easy) for someone to analyze the genetic and demographic characteristics of the population under alternative assumptions about the parentage. Finally, future (or futuristic) genetic analysis programs might be able to deal
58
with assignment of more than one sire and one dam for offspring.
STUDBOOKS ARE INTENDED TO
PORTRAY THE TRUTH. IT IS
ESSENTIAL THAT THE TRUTH, AND
MINOR ASSUMPTIONS, BE CLEARLY
DOCUMENTED IN THE SPARKS
DATABASE
In summary, the key is to enter everything known about the pedigree of each specimen in the studbook. After all, documentation of pedigrees is the primary reason for keeping a studbook! When it is necessary to make assumptions about some tricky or unusual parentage determinations, those assumptions should be documented clearly in a Special Data field. Remember, the computer files are the only permanent records of the studbook knowledge, studbook keeper's scribbled notes, and recollections of what was, done and why, will soon be lost Any information worth knowing should be in the studbook.
Dam and sire ID (i.e., studbook numbers) are entered or edited by:
(1) selecting Data Entry from the Main Menu of SPARKS
(2) selecting Edit Animal Data from the Data Entry menu
(3) entering a new studbook number or number to be edited
(4) moving the cursor to the Master Record window (upper left) and pressing return
(5) entering sex of the specimen
(6) estimated birth date (and date estimate if appropriate)
(7) entering sire ID
(8) entering dam ID
59