Speciation question


Can someone please tell me if this statement is true? (From Science
on Trial, by Douglas J. Futuyma - 1982, pp. 23-43). I've read parts of
The Origin of Species but don't own a copy:

[ The first five chapters of the Origin lay out the theory that
Darwin had conceived. He shows that both domesticated and wild species
are variable, that much of that variation is hereditary, and that
breeders, by conscious selection of desirable varieties, can develop
breeds of pigeons, dogs, and other forms that are more different from
each other than species or even families of wild animals and plants are
from each other.]

What breeds of animals (dogs, pigeons, etc.) are more different from
each other than species or families of wild animals and plants from each
other? Since some of Darwin's ideas are no longer considered valid
today, was this one of them? Is this a true statement or just
misleading? If true, what definition of "species" are you using?
(Animals, plants, insects, that can even appear identical but that
cannot breed with other species of the same genus? - that doesn't sound
very "different".) In other words are the dogs still dogs, pigeons still
pigeons?

By the way, creationists do not say (or should not say) that new
species have not been produced, but that this speciation is within the
"kind" as stated in the Bible, and involves no new genetic information
but a recombination of existing genes and in some cases a loss of
genetic information.

_______________________
I'm new to this topic and do not have a background in biology so please
reply in laymen's terms if possible; and please be respectful as I'm not
here to argue but to learn --thanks.
C.L.


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