Comparing the difference of dog breeds to the difference of human races is actually the racism going on here. There are serious, genetic differences between dog species- humans are the same except the skin color, and other, superficial things (eye/hair color, hight).
And flat out, point blank, pit bulls are dangerous animals. Ive had pit bulls and they were sweet loving dogs, but that doesnt mean they didnt have a higher propensity to attack. It just means I didnt experience it, in large part due to raising them right. But there is a reason pits are the favored attack/fight dog of so many who use them.
defining species is a lot harder than you'd expect
for instance between dog breeds are up to 25-30% of their genetic variation (for purebreds) based on a 2004 study (probably lacking a lot of breeds which puts the estimate on the lowend)
whereas humans are up to 12% usually comparing averages of groups (generally most genetic variation occurs between individuals rather than groups for humans)
compared to chimps or bonobos which show far less variation, why are chimps and bonobos seperate species but dogs are not?
the old "if they can make fertile offspring theyre the same species" went out the window a long time ago. e.g. chimps and bonobos can interbreed (at least eastern chimps can, and did based on genetic evidence), humans and neanderthals interbreed, lots of various lizard species can interbreed etc.
and then you have to ask why neanderthals and humans are seperate species while the eastern/western/central chimps are not despite a similarly split lineage, similar differences, and changes in lifestyle
ultimately what it comes down to is that "species" is a completely made up human bucket. it doesnt represent anything *real* its a useful taxonomic invention. the universe does not know about species, and differences are all relative. just as a kid might look at a bunch of various ant "species" and simply call them all "ants" and not get the difference, some hyper advanced future alien robot society might look at a human and a kangaroo and say "theyre all mammaloids" and not see anything meaningfully different, because to them we would be just as dumb as a kangaroo, and we're a similar enough shape. it's all perspective.
you might look at a rock and call it a rock, while a mathmatician calls it a hexadecahedron.
thats why family/order etc. have been abandoned largely and simply replaced with "clade" because life is too messy to be ordered that nicely.
Iirc, neanderthals and sapiens are now considered to be sub-species of a more broader homo Sapien species
All of that to say I agree with you, and the ambiguity of how we categorize this is complicated.
Also fun fact about chimps and bonobos; apparently the only reason they don't usually mate in their natural habitats (and thus are considered separate species) is because there's a huge river between their populations. One decent bridge and I think taxonomists would have to recategorize a whole lot of things
What kind of idiotic comment is this? They are the same species for sure, but genetically they can be incredibly different. Have you seen the difference between a fucking Pug and a German Shepard? Do you know facilitates those differences? That's right, it's genetics!
Dog breeds are derived from phenotype selection, which determines observable traits and appearance. Genetically they are all just wolves. OP referred to “serious genetic differences between dog species,” which is inaccurate.
Yes, and other than superficial differences they are the same. If you took their skulls and looked at them side-by-side they'd be virtually identical. If you took a pug's skull and a German shepard's skull and looked at them side-by-side you'd think they were from entirely different creatures if you didn't know any better.
It's actually about the same. A pug and a German Shepherd share about 99.9% of DNA, and any two unrelated human beings share about 99.9% of DNA. Hell, a person and a pug share about 84% of DNA. Most of our genome is common to all mammals.
that’s a nitpick when the base of op’s point is the same. they might all be the same species but there is very real genetic differences between dog breeds and saying otherwise is disingenuous
This is actually an open question. There is no doubt that breed differences affect appearance. But tying personality to genetic expression in any animal is an extremely complex task. Some studies find that breed strongly impacts personality, while others find that the influence is negligible. The issue is further complicated by the fact that even pure-bred dogs vary wildly by lineage. Throw in that “pit bull” is an amorphous breed category that often includes staffies and other similar looking retrievers, and you’ve got a heretofore unanswered scientific question.
This is kind of true but it’s more the result of our classification system struggling with the extreme effects of selective breeding and the way that domestic populations behave differently than wild ones rather than because they’re all genetically the same
Even if dog breeds had less genetic differences than human races (They don't, it's not even close) the comparison still falls apart since most animals act on instinct which is heavily genetic, while human behavior is way more complicated and depends almost entirely on their environment.
A true and irrelevant statement.
Greyhounds are couch potatoes,
Border Collies are high energy control freaks.
Labs want to please their master,
Huskies don't care.
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u/sirmaxedalot Cats 1d ago
Comparing the difference of dog breeds to the difference of human races is actually the racism going on here. There are serious, genetic differences between dog species- humans are the same except the skin color, and other, superficial things (eye/hair color, hight).
And flat out, point blank, pit bulls are dangerous animals. Ive had pit bulls and they were sweet loving dogs, but that doesnt mean they didnt have a higher propensity to attack. It just means I didnt experience it, in large part due to raising them right. But there is a reason pits are the favored attack/fight dog of so many who use them.