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Originally Posted by Brewtus
Well you responded "actually thats not the current theory on dog evolution." and provided the website when I said "every current breed of dog has many transitional breeds that provide a link between now and when they were first domesticated from wolves.", so I took that to mean you didn't think dogs evolved from wolves. My bad.
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no, it sounds more like my bad actually. i probably should have been
a lot more clear on what i was saying.
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I think we're arguing from the same side of the table on this topic, but it's important to remember that populations evolve into new species, not individuals. The offspring of one species does not instantly became a new species when it's born, even if it carries some new genetic material that makes it unique from its parents. A species is generally described as a population that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. I'm no dog expert, but I would think that almost all breeds of dog are capable of mating with each other and producing fertile offspring, and maybe even still capable of successfully mating with wolves. Granted, most would need to be artificially inseminated due to size differences or unwillingness to mate.
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yep, same point of view just from a slightly different angle. in fact, i think the only point of contention is the time frame in which evolution can occur. in the case of the fox experiment what would be recognized as a unique species was created in less than 15 years. even under controlled circumstances, thats absolutely mind boggling and imo has to completely change the way we view the evolution of species. in an extreme enough situation, and god knows this planet has had a few of those, some species have the ability to rapidly evolve into another in an extremely short period of time. evolution might not require "millions of years". just maybe with the right set of variables it could take place in 50 years. 30 years. 20... thats very literally the blink of an eye when viewing the fossil record.
actually wolves and domesticated dogs are being successfully interbred as we speak. its even legal to purchase such animals in certain states. same is being done with certain types of cats. look up a breed of cat called the savannah. interesting stuff.
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If you're talking about cross-breeding or selective breeding over many generations, then I disagree. With the right mix of natural selection pressures, domesticated corn and potatoes certainly could evolve naturally.
I agree and this is very different than domesticating dogs and plants. Splicing a segment of DNA in the laboratory from one species into another is beyond the realm of natural selection.
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i think we agree here 100%.