Definition of breed adopted by FAO
Either a sub specific group of domestic livestock with definable and identifiable external characteristics that enable it to be separated by visual appraisal from other similarly defined groups within the same species or a group for which geographical and/or cultural separation from phenotypically similar groups has led to acceptance of its separate identity.
Source: FAO (1999).
(…) the following classification is used by FAO to describe the degrees of risk faced by livestock breeds:
• Extinct breed: The case when it is no longer possible to recreate a population of the breed. Extinction is absolute when there are no breeding males (semen), breeding females (oocytes), nor embryos remaining.
• Critical breed: A breed where the total number of breeding females is less than 100 or the total number of breeding males is less than or equal to five; or the overall population size is close to, but slightly above 100 and decreasing, and the percentage of pure-bred females is below 80 percent.
• Endangered breed: A breed where the total number of breeding females is between 100 and 1000 or the total number of breeding males is less than or equal to 20 and greater than five; or the overall population size is close to, but slightly above 100 and increasing and the percentage of pure bred females is above 80 percent; or the overall population size is close to, but slightly above 1 000 and decreasing and the percentage of pure-bred females is below80 percent.
• Critical–maintained breed and endangered–maintained breed: Critical or endangered breeds that are being maintained by an active public conservation programme or within a commercial or research facility.
• Breed not at risk: A breed where the total number of breeding females and males is greater than 1000 and 20 respectively; or the population size approaches 1000 and the percentage of pure-bred females is close to 100 percent, and the overall population size is increasing.
Source
Part 4 – State of the Art in Management of Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, FAO,
What do we mean by "rare" and related designations?
The basis for our classification of equine breeds is based on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy's definitions. They call these designations the "status" of the breed. They define four (4) categories of "status": critical, rare, watch, study. The key indicator of ALBC's status is reproductive performance, and this is measured by the number of annual purebred registrations in North America (keep in mind that ALBC is primarily focused on the status of these breeds in North America). The number of registrations approximates the number of purebred animals born that will be kept for breeding. This figure is more accurate than total population estimates, and registration numbers can be compared from year to year to understand trends within a breed. Global population ceilings are included in each category to eliminate breeds which are rare in North America, but numerous elsewhere, since such breeds are not threatened with extinction.
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Ceiling on annual North American registrations |
Ceiling on global population |
Critical |
200 |
2,000 |
Threatened |
1,000 |
5,000 |
Watch |
2,500 |
10,000 |
Recovering |
Breeds which were once listed in another category and have exceeded Watch category numbers but are still in need of monitoring. |
Study |
Breeds of genetic interest but lack documentation or definition. |
In its latest Breeders Directory the ALBC defines the following equine breeds / status:
We add to this the category "unique" which describes those equine breeds that possess unique traits, generally descended from rare bloodlines.
The above discreption defines all the Indigenous Breeds of Horses of India as "UNIQUE" |
Defining 'rare'
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