Striped Sheep

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In 1990 a striped sheep was featured on ‘Burke’s Backyard’ that was black with white stripes. She was a one-off mutant (born in 1982) in the Canberra region. Don Burke conducted genetic research into the mechanism involved and the information and sheep were passed on to Simon Dawe for development. From the original sheep worked on by Don, Simon and his father Stan, both professional sheep breeders, have now produced a flock of striped sheep. They have added grey and Moorit genes to the original black and are hoping to produce striped sheep in black, brown, grey, fawn and other colours. For the genetically inclined, the gene combination is a double recessive: a basic black sheep with a recessive mutation for whitish stripes at the agouti locus. The aim of this development is to add value to the sheep industry in Australia by providing sheep skins striped like zebra skins. Perhaps one day the striped sheep skins may be seen as handbags or coats on the catwalks of Paris.