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Dogs

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2022 3:09 pm
by Some Schmo
Here's a lighter topic: I can't help but think that dogs are one of the best examples of evolution we have.

Humans domesticated dogs about 30,000 years ago. We have been using selective breeding to transform wolves into the numerous shapes and sizes we see in dogs today. The only difference is that we've been consciously selecting which dogs reproduce rather than letting nature (the environment) make its natural selections, and it shows.

Nature selects for survival fitness. Humans have a completely different set of selection criteria. We select based on loyalty, obedience, temperament, and looks, primarily (some are selected for security), and just think about how successful we've been doing it.

When I look into my little dog's eyes (she's an 8 pound pomche, we think - don't know for sure because she's a rescued dog), all I can think about (other than my resistance fading away) is how she comes from a long line of ancestors selected for cuteness. Everything about her screams cuteness. All of her little features are rounded (baby-like), and her little walk is ridiculously cute. She doesn't have any practical survival skills other than that she's an extremely loyal companion and easy to look at. Well, that and she'll eat almost anything.

I didn't need the example of dogs to prove to me that evolution has been happening since life arrived on earth, but man, are they a great example of the power of selection when it comes to aggregate offspring.

Re: Dogs

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2022 3:14 pm
by Some Schmo
She looks a lot like this puppy but with slightly lighter fur:

Image

Re: Dogs

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2022 3:21 pm
by Some Schmo
Oh, I forgot to mention her tail. She's got one of those stubby little tails with the extremely long hair on them that fans out to create this beautiful arc of hair. There's no doubt in my mind dog breeders in our past saw the beginning of that tail and started selecting to enhance it. I tried to google a picture of a dog with a similar tail, and this was the best I could find:

Image

Re: Dogs

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2022 7:57 pm
by Gadianton
Giving a dog a good life is one of the best things a person can do, so congrats for that.

The argument won't work with IDers. Intelligent Design says the same thing. All the breeds of dogs people have produced are goal oriented, and couldn't be produced by "random chance". We selected all of these traits, just like God selected our traits.

Re: Dogs

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2022 11:14 pm
by Some Schmo
Gadianton wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 7:57 pm
Giving a dog a good life is one of the best things a person can do, so congrats for that.
She's the sweetest creature I've ever met and I'd do almost anything for her. In my estimation, she gives back much more than she's given.

I agree with Ricky Gervais' assessment: "Dogs are pure goodness." Giving her a good life is the least I could do for her.
Gadianton wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 7:57 pm
The argument won't work with IDers. Intelligent Design says the same thing. All the breeds of dogs people have produced are goal oriented, and couldn't be produced by "random chance". We selected all of these traits, just like God selected our traits.
Heh.

So I guess my answer to that is, "I'm not aware of dog breeders causing the random mutations selected. They simply selected from what was available."

Actually, my real answer would be, "Alrighty then" because some battles aren't worth fighting.

Re: Dogs

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2022 1:06 am
by Gunnar
Some Schmo wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 3:14 pm
She looks a lot like this puppy but with slightly lighter fur:

Image
I can't open that image on my computer, but the image in the next post is clear and sharp. What a cute dog!

Re: Dogs

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2022 1:52 am
by MeDotOrg
My 2 favorite dog quotes:
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.”
― Will Rogers
“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”
― Groucho Marx

Re: Dogs

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2022 2:54 am
by Some Schmo
Gunnar wrote:
Wed Aug 03, 2022 1:06 am
I can't open that image on my computer, but the image in the next post is clear and sharp. What a cute dog!
The second picture doesn't really look like our dog as much as the first; that second one was the best picture I could find of the kind of tail she has.

My dog's cuter than that one. And that dog is very cute. But mine is even cuter. I assert this with biased confidence.

Re: Dogs

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2022 11:03 am
by Moksha
When I think of the mischievous mutt laying in front of the air conditioner at my house, I realize she was selectively bred by Siberians, from a wolf stock, to help pull their sleds.

Image

Re: Dogs

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2022 1:02 pm
by Some Schmo
Pretty adorable, Moksha.