Re: evolution of wolves into dogs.

On May 16, 12:51 pm, "//// Owen \\\\\\\\" <m...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I am not a troll. My question arises from ignorance and confusion. I was
reading about a theory of how wolves evolved into dogs. It involved
thyroxine, the hormone secreted by the thyroid gland.

My confusion is this: Is the domestication of the wolf evolution at all? In
my ignorance , it all seems so simple. Some wolves were amenable to
domestication, and we domesticated them. Other wolves we not amenable to
domestication, and we didn't domesticate them.

Evolution is a word that is used for a lot if things. "The evolution
of the petroleum industry." That phrase has little to do with
biological evolution.

Domestic dogs are a sub species of wolf. There is no doubt that they
have a lot of genetic differences. The allele frequency shifts in the
population is evolution by definition, but it isn't what most
biologists would call speciation or what is termed macro evolution.
This isn't the creationist term it is a scientific term for evolution
above the species level. There are probably dogs that can't
effectively reproduce with other dogs or wolves (toy poodles and Irish
Wolf hounds). A Yorky would more likely be a meal than an object of
affection for a wolf. You probably have to consider domestic dogs as
a sort of ring species. There is still a continuum where they can all
interbreed with each other, but the extremes would have a problem.

There is still gene flow between wolves and domestic dogs. As far as
I know they are fully fertile hybrids and you can obtain animals with
varying degrees of introgression.

Ron Okimoto


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: The Fossil Fallacy
    ... >> transitional fossil" that proves evolution. ... With so many breeds of dogs popular for so ... >> domestic dogs share a common origin from Old World gray wolves." ...
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  • Re: evolution of wolves into dogs.
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    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Re: dog breeds: same species or not
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