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title: "5.11 Non-genetic influences: The variance due to a Common Environment"
canonical: "https://wiki.groenkennisnet.nl/space/TAB/288686293/5.11%20Non-genetic%20influences%3A%20The%20variance%20due%20to%20a%20Common%20Environment"
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The environment that an animal has experienced in its life in general is very difficult to monitor in detail. But there are components that the animal has shared with others during their development that may have influenced them all in a similar way. The size of that influence can be estimated because we can compare individuals that shared that same common environment to others that had another environment in common. An  example of a common environment is the mother, shared by animals in the same litter (think about pigs, dogs, sheep, rabbits, mice, etc). Those animals shared the same intrauterine environment, the same milk composition, approximately the same levels of milk production and maternal care. This shared early environment will have shaped these animals in a similar way. But also animals that were not born in a litter can have a common environment. For example, chicks that were hatched at the same time in the same incubator (or under the same hen), young animals in general that share their first indoor housing (cage or pen). Outdoor housing is much more variable and therefore much less of similar influence on all that shared the environment.

![image](media://27942154-cacd-4d90-b0cd-f1be4256bb05)

A common environment can, of course, also exist in the adult life of animals. However, in animal breeding we no longer call that a ‘common environment’. A common environment refers to the environment during the development of an animal and has irreversible consequences. If the common environment was abundant, the development of the animals sharing that environment will be according to their potential. However, if animals develop in a restricted environment, then their development will not be according to their potential and the consequences of this suboptimal development are irreversible. A restricted environment during adult life, however, mostly has reversible consequences.

> ℹ️ ### Definition
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ *A ****common environment**** is an environment that is shared with others during the development of an animal and that, therefore, is expected to have the same influence on the devlopment of all animals that share a commen environment. The quality of an environment may have irreversible consequences if experienced during development*

  


> Macro (children)