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> Dogs have been bred for many thousands of generations Dogs have been bred for many purposes: to be attractive, to be aggressive, to herd, to hunt. These foxe

by dmm 16y ago

> Dogs have been bred for many thousands of generations Dogs have been bred for many purposes: to be attractive, to be aggressive, to herd, to hunt. These foxes have been bred exclusively for tameness. The starting stock were semi-domesticated fur foxes. These foxes are far from wild animals.

jacquesm 16y ago
All dogs are still (technically, I'd hate to think of the logistics in some cases) interbreedable, no speciation has occurred over all those thousands of generations. Dogs and wolves can still interbreed and the resulting offspring is fertile. So, technically, dogs are 'tame wolves'. These foxes are much closer to their wild roots, it's great they've been bred for tameness (a much better trait to select for than beauty or some other peripheral trait, which might come at a cost, because beauty is subjective and you can easily get side-effects when selecting for it) but even so I'd be pretty careful. Until there are 1000's of these animals out there that have been subjected to all kinds of situations you'll be in uncharted territory, no matter what the breeding was initially for. Another risk is that if these become more popular that less experienced money oriented breeders will try to get in on the market and will re-introduce bad traits because it's more profitable to use all animals as breeding stock in stead of the ones with the more desirable trait. This sort of thing has come close to destroying the reputation of quite a few dog breeds.
- dmm 16y ago
  > All dogs are still (technically, I'd hate to think of the logistics in some cases) interbreedable Female Ligers are often fertile. Biology can be quite surprising. The concept of a species is a human one, used for convenience. > Another risk is that if these become more popular that less experienced money oriented breeders That won't be a problem, at least in the near term, because they are only selling neutered pups. > Until there are 1000's of these animals out there that have been subjected to all kinds of situations you'll be in uncharted territory That may be the case. I don't have much experience with animals. Interesting points :)
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    Wow, thanks for that Liger reference, I'd never even heard of them, much less would have expected such a combination to be fertile. Amazing stuff.

by dmm 16y ago

jacquesm 16y ago

All dogs are still (technically, I'd hate to think of the logistics in some cases) interbreedable, no speciation has occurred over all those thousands of generations. Dogs and wolves can still interbreed and the resulting offspring is fertile. So, technically, dogs are 'tame wolves'. These foxes are much closer to their wild roots, it's great they've been bred for tameness (a much better trait to select for than beauty or some other peripheral trait, which might come at a cost, because beauty is subjective and you can easily get side-effects when selecting for it) but even so I'd be pretty careful. Until there are 1000's of these animals out there that have been subjected to all kinds of situations you'll be in uncharted territory, no matter what the breeding was initially for. Another risk is that if these become more popular that less experienced money oriented breeders will try to get in on the market and will re-introduce bad traits because it's more profitable to use all animals as breeding stock in stead of the ones with the more desirable trait. This sort of thing has come close to destroying the reputation of quite a few dog breeds.

dmm 16y ago
> All dogs are still (technically, I'd hate to think of the logistics in some cases) interbreedable Female Ligers are often fertile. Biology can be quite surprising. The concept of a species is a human one, used for convenience. > Another risk is that if these become more popular that less experienced money oriented breeders That won't be a problem, at least in the near term, because they are only selling neutered pups. > Until there are 1000's of these animals out there that have been subjected to all kinds of situations you'll be in uncharted territory That may be the case. I don't have much experience with animals. Interesting points :)
- jacquesm 16y ago
  Wow, thanks for that Liger reference, I'd never even heard of them, much less would have expected such a combination to be fertile. Amazing stuff.