4 ms·
Look at what the cat's tail does when it leaps through the air, or the dogs tail when turning a corner at high speed, and it will become clear. It's for balance
by krona 8y ago
Look at what the cat's tail does when it leaps through the air, or the dogs tail when turning a corner at high speed, and it will become clear. It's for balance and agility.
Greyhounds and Cheetahs naturally have fairly long tails.
- lovemenot 8y agoCan we call a greyhound's tail natural, if it has been bred for purpose by people?
- Retric 8y agoI would as they where bread for speed not looks, with the tail evolving based on selection pressure.
- wil421 8y agoCan you call any domesticated animal natural?
- tomrod 8y agoSure, it's not a terrible stretch. An external force (us) encouraged their shaping through selective pressure. We are from the environment, the same as a rift valley or other long term environmental impact, for domesticated animals. As far as I know little to none current domestication uses fully manipulative method like CRISPR. That we semantically look at our own involvement as somehow different on outcome isn't really the intent of artifice, I think. Rather that humans, individually and collectively, modify the environment to suit their needs. I'm not really looking to argue the point, but interested in hearing other's thoughts on this.
- headShrinker 8y agoIt’s a legitimate question but it's a slippery slope. A wild horse can be domesticated, is it natural? Donkeys, and camels too, even birds like parrots and raptors can be trained to do work and be subservient to humans. If the question is learned behavioral domestication vs bred genetic domestication... Is a banana natural? Apples oranges grains, virtually every verity of produce at the store has been ’domesticated’. Are they natural? Humans have been bred for group behavior, language and manual (slave) labor by means of evolutionary pressure and natural selection. Are we unnatural? Pretty sure ‘natural’ is not the delineation we want to use
- cobbzilla 8y agoDo not conflate taming/training (of an individual) with domestication (of a species). Very different things.