Page 147 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 1 4 7

An early idea of selection in humans, as can be traced back to Plato, for example, referred
to the selection of offspring (Greek for “healthy growth”) called eugenics in antiquity and
Hellenism rather to physical prowess in competition with others, to the Agon. This
selection, however, differed from the modern idea in that naturally evolved races formed
certain types that were mated with each other in more or less controlled situations, but
not in selective mating in order to breed out individual characteristics.

Nemra (left) and Warda in North-West of Tunisia 2023 © Ochi

The Sloughi in its natural environment shall be considered a natural breed or landrace. A

natural breed or landrace, however, may be considered as an animal that is still wild or at
least essentially a wild animal.

Until breeding according to the standard, the Sloughi is a landrace, just like the Azawakh.
Breeding according to standard means breeding according to Mendel (statistics) or

according to Darwin (natural selection) and that is ultimately the question we have to ask
ourselves. Zimen defines a breed or species according to genetic isolation. According to
Darwin, genetic isolation takes place spatially, for example. If, however, free mate choice
is possible, this natural reproduction is unobjectionable. If, however, genetic isolation is
carried out through targeted selection in the choice of mate, a new race is created, but
genetic diversity is considerably restricted, which leads to problems with line breeding
and inbreeding, and the ancient Egyptians already experienced this.