Question

Short hair (L) is dominant to long hair (l). If a short-haired animal of unknown origin is crossed with a long-haired animal and they produce one long-haired and short-haired offspring, this would indicate that...

A) The short-haired animal is homozygous dominant.
B) The short-haired animal is heterozygous.
C) The long-haired animal is homozygous dominant.
D) The long-haired animal is heterozygous.

Answer 1

If a short-haired animal of unknown origin is crossed with a long-haired animal and they produce one long-haired and short-haired offspring, this indicates that the short-haired animal is heterozygous.

Step-by-step explanation:

If a short-haired animal of unknown origin is crossed with a long-haired animal and they produce one long-haired and short-haired offspring, this would indicate that the short-haired animal is heterozygous (B).

According to Mendelian genetics, if short hair (L) is dominant to long hair (l), the short-haired animal must carry one short hair allele (L) and one long hair allele (l). When crossed with a long-haired animal (ll), there is a 50% chance of producing a short-haired offspring (Ll) and a 50% chance of producing a long-haired offspring (ll).

The presence of both short-haired and long-haired offspring confirms that the short-haired animal is heterozygous for the hair length trait.