What type of trait is expressed in an animal?

• A. Recessive trait
• B. Dormant trait
• C. Dominant trait
• D. Inherited trait

Answer: (C)

A dominant trait is one that is expressed in an organism when at least one copy of the trait's allele is present. In genetic terms, alleles can be dominant or recessive; a dominant allele will mask the effect of a recessive allele in a heterozygous individual. This means that if an animal has at least one dominant allele for a particular trait, that trait will manifest in its phenotype, which is the observable characteristics of the animal.

For example, if we consider a trait like coat color in dogs, the allele for black fur may be dominant over the allele for brown fur. Consequently, a dog possessing one black fur allele and one brown fur allele will have a black coat due to the dominance of the black fur allele. Thus, dominant traits are significant in understanding how certain characteristics are visibly expressed in animals.

Other terms such as recessive, dormant, and inherited do not accurately describe how traits are manifested. Recessive traits require two copies of their allele to be expressed, while dormant is not a standard genetic term for trait expression, and inherited merely indicates that a trait has been passed down from parents, regardless of whether it is dominant or recessive.