tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post7041089015662554793..comments2023-12-24T07:02:43.274+08:00Comments on Catalogue of Organisms: Wolf and Wolf and Wolf and Wolf and CubChristopher Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11075565866351612441noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-79254259326672294542013-01-11T07:35:57.682+08:002013-01-11T07:35:57.682+08:00I love wolves and I think it's terrible that t...I love wolves and I think it's terrible that they're endangeredAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-61683325038338983712009-04-18T11:27:00.000+08:002009-04-18T11:27:00.000+08:00all I have to say is this: Fascinating!all I have to say is this: Fascinating!StayAtHomeKathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03928360317084517038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-19077563897981551212009-04-09T07:48:00.000+08:002009-04-09T07:48:00.000+08:00Watcher; yes, the differences in attitude between ...Watcher; yes, the differences in attitude between botany and zoology towards hybridisation is just one of the reasons why, while zoologists whole-heartedly embraced the Biological Species Concept, botanists have generally regarded it as something of a poor joke.<BR/><BR/>Nathan;<BR/><BR/><I>You seem to be saying they're really all just mutts, more or less.</I><BR/><BR/>I'm not sure I'd put it <I>quite</I> like that, but that's certainly one way of looking at it. It's not so much that they're "minimally variant", it's that the lines between them are far from clear.<BR/><BR/><I>Considering the difference between a pekingese and a mastiff, aren't the diagnostic differences between the nominal species you mention rather fussy?</I><BR/><BR/>And that, of course, is one of the reasons why domesticated animals are so difficult to deal with taxonomically. Human breeding has ramped up the level of variation between populations (or subpopulations), but human intervention is required to maintain that variation. So what should we do?<BR/><BR/>As regards the wild taxa, the question isn't so much how fine the distinctions are, it's whether the distinctions are fixed between the populations. A single widespread species may encompass more variation overall than a number of very restricted-range species.Christopher Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11075565866351612441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-4310074587252798442009-04-09T06:09:00.000+08:002009-04-09T06:09:00.000+08:00You seem to be saying they're really all just mutt...You seem to be saying they're really <I>all</I> just mutts, more or less. (As a cat person, I'm inclined to agree, to the point of being willing to put words in your mouth.) These minimally variant breeds of a super-species <I>Canis universalis</I>, collectively, have been remarkably successful, and only partly by symbiosis with <I>Homo</I>. <BR/><BR/>Considering the difference between a pekingese and a mastiff, aren't the diagnostic differences between the nominal species you mention rather fussy? Or are all skeletal features retained among all <I>C. familiaris</I> breeds (however distorted), but lost or innovated in the wild populations?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00831355954619691739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-11750793498785851662009-04-09T04:34:00.000+08:002009-04-09T04:34:00.000+08:00Great post, Christopher. The differing attitudes t...Great post, Christopher. The differing attitudes toward hybridization’s role in evolution between botany and zoology is one of those obvious-but-never-occurred-to-me points till I read it here. Thanks.Watcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02248341788957416471noreply@blogger.com