Investigation and preservation of genetic biodiversity of animals should certainly include both wild animals and breeds of domesticated animals. The latter ones are particularly endangered. For saving wild animals, it is often enough just to leave them alone, while preservation of breeds is impossible without direct intervention of qualified specialists. As we actually see, at certain stages of societal development, in governmental programs, preservation of breeds of domesticated animals is not among first priorities. This makes extinction of domesticated animal breeds very likely. For preservation of wild animals, we set aside lands protected by law and put together lists of endangered species, but we leave absolutely without a protection breeds of domesticated animals, which are entirely depended on humans. Breeds considered valuable, because of their importance for human consumption, are in somewhat better position, but survival of so-called “non productive” breeds is jeopardized the most. Among all breeds, aboriginal ones are most interesting, because, unlike purebreds, they have been developed by force of artificial and natural selection for centuries. Historically, they could remain in possession of people, who created them, or become transferred from one ethnic group to another being “inherited”. They may occur in a very small geographic region or be wide distributed; they can remain unchanged for a long time, or be changed by specific selection by humans or by natural selection specific to local physiographic conditions (Plakhov and Shelestova, 1999). |
