Some have mistakenly listed it as dominant, it certainly is not. I have kept and bred this variety since 1991 and know it well. Without any doubt this mutation is one of the most eye-catching of all Zebra Finches. The black cheek patches of the male and female make it so. The Male Black Cheeks has not only black cheek patches, but dark reddish- black flanking with white dots.
Some individuals show more intense black pigment in the flanking, others more chestnut.
The female has black cheek patches just as the male does, but often the are not quite as intense as those found in male, and many females only have half a cheek patch present. When I received my first Black Cheek Zebra I remember looking in the shipping box and counting the birds. Initially I was disappointed because I thought I had received all males. In the excitement of looking at them it took me several minutes to realize that some were females, they were the ones without the breast bar. Black Cheek young fledge with black cheek patches.