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( Purebred)
Purebreds, also called purebreeds, are cultivated varieties or cultivars of an animal species, achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be pedigreed. The term purebred is occasionally confused with the proper noun Thoroughbred, which refers exclusively to a specific breed of horse, one of the first breeds for which a written national stud book was created since the 18th century. Thus a purebred animal should never be called a "thoroughbred" unless the animal actually is a registered Thoroughbred horse. In the world of animal breeding, to "breed true" means that specimens of an animal breed will breed true-to-type when mated like-to like; that is, that the progeny of any two individuals in the same breed will show consistent, replicable and predictable characteristics. A puppy from two purebred dogs of the same breed, for example, will exhibit the traits of its parents, and not the traits of all breeds in the subject breed's ancestry. However, over time, there are also concerns that breeding from too small a gene pool can lead to inbreeding and the development of negative characteristics or even a collapse of a breed population due to inbreeding depression. Hence, there is continuing tension within many purebred animal breeds over the question of when a breed may need to allow "outside" blood in for the purpose of improving the overall health and vigor of an animal breed.
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Purebred Subcategories
Purebred Articles
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