Hah I just found this old note I wrote on my Facebook, wanted to reshare it.
"So I was thinking today at work (as I tend to do often at work) where did all the different species of cats and dogs come from?
Did domestic dogs as we know them now evolve from a long line of canine ancestors originating from the least domestic canines, wolves? Do I believe wolves were one of the creatures God placed on the earth? Sure. Do I believe beagles and pugs and german shepards were running around when animals first came into existence? That I have a harder time believing. So if subspecies of dogs evolved from their canine ancestors, why did that evolution chain stop? Are new breeds of dogs still being classified or did that stop too? Do I believe animals are still evolving? I guess, but if domestic dogs evolved from their canine ancestors through thousands of years of dometication, why haven't they lost other aspects of their primal nature? Canines are predators by nature, however most breeds of domestic dogs wouldn't stand a chance as a predator. They have become smaller and weaker by nature, is this not a result of evolution?
Now here's where it gets even more confusing. I can believe domestic dogs evolving down from wolves and/or hyenas or whatever, but I dunno if I believe domestic cats evolved from their original, and also predator, feline ancestors such as cheetahs, tigers and lions. It seems like there's many more species of cat that are still wild predators then there are species of dogs but on the flip side there's many more breeds/species of domestic dogs than domestic cats. Did smaller predator cats such as the lynx and bobcat evolve from their larger ancestors? Or did God place all wild cats as we know them on Earth at the same time? The bobcat, cougar, puma, panther, lynx, cheetah, tiger, lion, liger, Tony, ect. Well scratch the liger, that's just a result of us playing God lol.
But really, did domestic cats evolve from tigers? Or did God places forms of domestic cats on the Earth and they have since just bred and inbred to produce all the different breeds of domestic cats we know now?
Which brings me to my next musing. The church I know is obviously against the theory of evolution where it pertains to humans but it isn't very clear where it stands according to animal evolution. When you think about it, it's really never talked about....ever. It's one of those things you think about and you ask your father because you think he's an authority on both topics. But we're adults now, we gotta think about these things!
So here's my final verdict. Dogs evolved from wolves. Cats are an alien race that flew in from a distant planet sometime during the time of the Romans. They are performing life-long studies of our race and sending the information back to their home planet via whisker transmissions. Why do you think cats are so stand off-ish and dogs aren't? Cats know we're trying to domesticate them and they let us, but only to the point they are allowed into our homes, and even then they let us know who's boss. You think the world will end with WW3? Pfftt..WW3 will be a war between our world and the world of cats. Mark my words...
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8 comments:
Evolution is a fact and a theory (theory is very strong in science...think theory of gravity; unfortunately the theory of evolution yields a blow to many ego's...so many stick their brains into sands of ignorance and mis-information). Evolution never stops...if there is a creator "he" is still creating right now... Humans are animals...humans are a product of evolution like every other living entity on this planet.
I bet, many millions of years ahead, a new species will cry from the mnt. tops "I didn't come from no damn human!".
Of course dogs did not evolve from wolves...humans did not evolve from chimps...(wolves and chimps are still here...but they do share a common ancestor.
Think...that in a short 20,000 years we , via human selection, caused some wolves to evolve into extremes like a great dane and small poodle. If there is that much genetic variation...plasticity for change, in a wolves...imagine what can evolutionarily happen in 2 million years...20 million...2 billion...!!!
That's some fine questioning and elaboration on the subject.
Every species has variations within itself and each member of population has a new genetic recombination of these variations. This ('recombination') is one supply of new information. Mutation is too, supply of new genetic information. So, every newborn of a sexually reproducing species, is always genetically unique, and has a potential to carry a slightly different trait, morphology or physiology, new to that species. These are 'the input' for the mechanism of evolution. However, The ecology (or whatever causes the selection) may or may not favor the new trait. There is usually random fluctuation in frequencies of non-selected traits. If the ecology favors a new trait, member has better chance at survival & reproduction, so the frequency of the genetic combination causing the trait will be increased within species, and it will be more likely to show itself again in the next generation. Selection may act on any trait, and will cause an increase in its frequency in population, and leaving other traits to random fluctuation.
Coming to your question on why they did not lose some aspects of their wild nature;
Now say, for 300 years, domestication of a wild canine species has involved selection for calmer character, whiter fur, smaller size.. Other traits, on which the selection is not made, will be in random fluctuation unless they're genetically related to the selected traits. (i.e. genes for whiter fur might also cause blue eyes although blue eyes are not 'selected'). We do not expect sharp teeths to get smaller, because they were not subject to selection during domestication. Teeth size fluctuated randomly around a mean value, in domesticated canines. Domestication (artificial selection by man) was the cause for these animals to be calmer in character. So that's why they have no chance in nature now. Whatever species living and reproducing in nature, are so, because they are the descendants of animals who were successful in surviving. Domesticated animals are not descendants of wild life successors, but of calmer, friendlier animals that people continously picked out and bred for decades.
Also, artificial selection runs the evolution much faster than does the natural selection, because it involves absolute selection and directly controlled breeding - there's no space for accidents and chance. So wild cheetas, may not have changed significantly in the last 400 years, but many domesticated cat species did change significantly in short time. You might also want to read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat
You can notice the dependence of subspecies distribution on geographic conditions. This is a nice point that shows speciation is driven through genetic adaptation to different natural conditions - under different natural conditions, natural selection drives populations to different evolutionary (or genetic) paths.
drop the "god" bs befor you start posting stuff on evolution lmao
Are you that blinded when you perceive to be knowledgable.... Tut tut tut... You have perceived and projected exactly what? Answer that an you will know/be free
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Here's your answer, direct from the mouths of the most respected PHD's in the Evolutionist's camp:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0u3-2CGOMQ
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