What is a “breed” and how do breeds come about?
Basically a breed is a population of animals bred among themselves (inter se) within the protection of a pedigree barrier (meaning that ancestry of the breed comes primarily from a known founder group). Breeds are normally distinguished from one another in three ways, by ancestry, by typology, and by purpose. This means that not only does ancestry come from a particular source or group of founders, but that the breed is phenotypically distinguishable from other breeds and that it has a distinct character and purpose – even if that purpose is just to be a companion animal. Breeds come about in more than one way. Sometimes they develop in an isolated geographic region under natural and purpose selection; in that case they are called “landrace” breeds. Sometimes they are developed by a process of selection and breeding to serve a very particular end, as for example hunting a particular animal species in a particular way. Sometimes they are artificial creations brought into existence by cr
