I love my wife. I really do. Why? Because I’m her husband. I represent her interests when she cannot speak for herself. I am her protector and her defender. She mothers my children, she takes care of me and blesses me with opportunity and joy. It’s not that she doesn’t have faults. It’s not that other people probably don’t know she has faults. But if I were to hold a speech where I specifically, and purposefully derided her, insulted her, bashed her as her one best representative to the world… Just so that I could curry favor with the people in the crowd? No. No way. You couldn’t get me to go out into public and start trash-talking her if you water-boarded me. Why?
BECAUSE. I. LOVE. HER.
I bet Obama has never bashed Karl Marx.
I didn’t come up with the scientific classification of living things. Some scientists did that, based on observed physical attributes, behaviours and genetics. Things man can only observe and document – not make up.
The “largest mastiff to the smallest chihuahua” are all subspecies of Canis Familiaris and as you say “makes them unique to their own kinds, and it means they cannot breed with anything BUT their ‘kind’.” “Kind” meaning species. Mongrels and other cross breeds are possible because they are all Canis Familiaris.
Canis Familiaris has evolved so far from Canis Lupus (wolf) that they are no longer the same “kind” of animal. They are in the same “family” (that’s the scientific term) of animals through, (which also includes the foxes, coyotes, and jackels.)
Ie. Proof of evolution – based on recorded human history.
They are the same kind of animal. Proof of micro-evolution, of adaptation, of genetic manipulation via breeding. Pretty powerful proof against macro-evolution, since no matter how far apart you breed the different genetic lines, they all end up being the same kind. You’ll never get anything but a dog-kind from a dog-kind. Be that wolf, coyote, mastiff, poodle or other.
I would not call a major increase in physical variation, loss of pack /social behavior and a complete overhaul of the olfactory system “micro-evolution”. Only another wolf can be part of the wolf pack, but to a dog another species (a human) is accepted as alpha male/female for the pack. Saying a wolf and a dog are the “same kind of animal”, is like saying a humming bird and an eagle are the “same kind of animal”.
I’ve never tried to cross-breed a hummingbird and an eagle… lol
You contradict yourself in your own argument. The pack/social behavior is not lost, but replaced by the human ‘pack’ in their surrounding. Also, if you let dogs go ‘wild’, they form packs. Apparently you’ve never seen a wild dog pack.
The ‘overhaul’ of the olfactory system is also a breed-able trait. Some dogs were bred for a better olfactory system, others it was not so important. But sorry man, they are all the same kind. I’ve seen chihuahua mix breeds that were part doberman. It doesn’t matter the size of the dog, you can mix their genetics just like you can mix a 7′ tall black man and a 4.5′ asian woman. We’re the same ‘kind’ too.
‘Species’ is just something made up by man to put animals into categories.
Never doubted that there could be a “chihuahua mix breeds that were part doberman”, because they are both Canis Familiaris. A wolf (Canis Lupus) is not. So you could not get a mixed chihuahua/ wolf cub. The categories of species is divided along these genetic lines. You can mix the genetics of “a 7? tall black man and a 4.5? asian woman” because they are both Homo Sapiens. Scientist do not make up categories willy nilly – there’s a real difference between species.
All bacteria are single cells, but geneticly there are still significant differences between each species.
Got to admit that “lost” was not the best word for the change in the pack behaviour of dogs, compared to wolves. But dogs do accept other species as alpha males/ females, and have lose the wolves hunting strategies. Another difference is how dogs are social outside of their packs, where wolves are more territorial (unless it is packless wolves meeting each other.)
Wolves are simply a different animal then the dog. Both share the same ancestor though – a wolf.
And yet, you can breed a wolf with a dog. lol. Oh, but wait, a scientist decided to call wolves ‘Canis lupus’ and a dog a ‘Canis Familaris’… You’re kidding, right? THEY ARE THE SAME KIND OF ANIMAL. And I don’t know if it’s ever been tried, but I’d bet a thousand bucks you could get a wolf/chihuahua hybrid if the wolf didn’t eat the chihuahua first.
Oh, looks like I win that bet. I just had to do a little ‘googling’. lol The Red Wolf Chihuahua:
Did a little research on the “red wolf Chihuahua” after I came back form my business trip and apparently (according to the dog breeding sites I found) the “red wolf” reference pertains to the colour of the chihuahua’s fur – it resembles the colour of a red wolf’s fur. There doesn’t seem to be any wolf genes in a “red wolf chihuahua”. A wolf is probably more liable to snack on a poor chihuahua than to mate with one anyways.
So it doesn’t look like you win the bet yet Hapajap.
Also, even a wolf/chihuahua hybrid exists, the true test of whether or not wolves and chihuahuas can interbreed (and is thus the same ‘kind of animal’) is if the resulting hybrid can pass on it’s comingled genes onto another generation. If it can’t, then it is a genetic dead end and thus proof that dogs and wolves are different “kinds of animals”.
Good try though.