[martinss01]

Originally Posted by Brewtus

While that's an interesting experiment and was probably seen as insightful 40 years ago, recent DNA analysis of most breeds of dogs indicate that they were all domesticated from the wolf.

Here's an interesting episode of Nature that aired on PBS in 2007 on the subject: Dogs That Changed the World - Introduction - Dog Breeds | Nature

where did i say the domestic dog didn't evolve from the wolf? i cited a study conducted on a specific type of fox as an example of rapid evolution. not as a theory on where the domesticated dog came from.

Transitional species must exist, otherwise you're claiming that a new species just appeared out of thin air. I think you're confusing the ability to actually have the physical remains of a transitional species in hand vs. the fact that a transitional species existed even if we don't have the remains available to study.

actually i think you misunderstood my point. for which i apologize for not being more clear. i was stating that it is very likely that (as in the case of the foxes i noted) wolfs likely evolved rapidly over a very short period of time making it very difficult to impossible to find the "missing link" species you described earlier. in fact, its possible that such "missing link" species was skipped entirely as a creature that would be viewed as a wolf could potentially give birth to a puppy that would be viewed as a domestic dog. while the puppy would obviously be the "missing link". because it is so different than its parent it would likely not be viewed as such because it is so different as was the case with the fox experiment. in fact, if the episode you linked is the one im thinking it is they note that the dna of dogs actually allow for significant mutation in a very short period of time which is why we (humans) were able to create so many different breeds of dogs in such a short period of time.

Nature doesn't have any preconceived "intentions". The current distribution of life on the planet with humans at the top of the food chain was not an inevitable occurrence. If we were to wind the evolutionary clock back 2 billions years and then start it again to let life evolve once more on this planet, it's extremely unlikely that humans would ever evolve once again.

no way on earth does hybrid corn or purple potatoes come into being without human intervention. why? because it requires the manipulation of dna at a level that is not natural. its the equivalent of spider dna being spliced with goats so they can be "milked" for spider silk in large enough quantities for use. its not that we "turned on" a sequence of dna that nature had deemed unfit, its that we inserted dna into a creature that did not posses it before. thats not natural selection. (not making any claims as to whether or not its wrong, just pointing out that there is a difference)