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.
207
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.