Are you a cat lover or a dog lover? If you’re a cat lover, this article might be a little challenging for you. Although, honestly, there are many types of cats out there, aren’t there? Maine Coon, Tonkinese, Russian Blue; but for our purposes this time, we’re going to focus on dogs.
The American Kennel Club recognizes 200 different dog breeds. However, they acknowledge that there are 340 different breeds worldwide. If you’re curious, there are at least 73 recognized cat breeds, but the official establishment and recognition for cats is a little less intense and strict compared to dogs.
Now, try to imagine any other animal you can think of. How many breeds do you think there are of giraffes? What about chimpanzees? In fact, what about humans? There may have been more than 21 species of humans, but that’s not entirely the same thing. Plus, compared to 340 breeds, that’s still very few.
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Breed and species are clearly not the same thing. A breed is a specific group within a species that has been engineered, or bred, for certain characteristics. That’s why a Chihuahua can mate with a Maltese. A Doberman can mate with a German Shepherd. They are all, in fact, the same species. It’s just that years of careful breeding have focused on highlighting certain characteristics in each that make them look very different. This is not something that happens in the wild where speciation can occur as part of the evolutionary process and one species eventually branches off from another.
Even knowing that, the number of dog breeds is quite astonishing. Only horses are more diverse, with over 400 breeds and some sources mentioning close to 800, but they are used for far more tasks than dogs ever have been.
Dog Domestication
All the dogs wagging their tails and being the best puppies in the world today trace their roots back to a now-extinct species of wolf closely related to the modern gray wolf. Genetic tests confirm this.
As for when dogs were domesticated, that’s a rather complicated question to answer. Some sources suggest around 15,000 years ago. But there is some evidence that it could have happened as early as 40,000 years ago. And there is evidence that wolves may have begun their journey to becoming full-fledged dogs as early as 130,000 years ago. That means while we know our canine companions, it’s very possible that Neanderthals did too.
While the official date of domestication is still uncertain, so is the location. In fact, there is some evidence that dogs may have been domesticated twice, in two completely different places. Once in Asia and once in Europe. However, this is not at all agreed upon in the scientific community. Others have found evidence that Europe was the sole location of domestication.
Genetic evidence shows that dogs came to North America when humans did, more than 10,000 years ago across the Bering Strait. Many of these dogs of Asian origin were bred with European stock when Europeans arrived and colonized the land, however, some still remain. Specifically, this genetic history can be found in species such as the Peruvian hairless and Xoloitzcuintli.
Breed Differentiation
Dog breeding is a very ancient practice. As we mentioned earlier, there are many horse breeds, so humans have a history of breeding animals for specific purposes. We have draft horses, racehorses, show horses, and so on. Humans have long understood that you can take two animals that have characteristics you like, breed them, and get offspring that will also have the characteristics you want.
Dogs were likely originally bred for hunting, for protection, and for herding before anything else. Over the centuries, these dogs were bred into more specific groups, which is why today we have sheepdogs, collies, Aussies, and many more that are all herding dogs, but all visually diverse.
Dogs have been bred for herding for a long time in a number of places. While herding dogs are all meant to do the same thing, their genetics can actually be very diverse. It seems they might all have originated from the same place, but evidence has shown that this is not true. And, in fact, not all dogs hear the same way. Some have been bred to be very independent and live with the herds they guard. Others are much more dependent on their human companions. The methods and strategies used by these dogs vary greatly, which shows that the breeds arose separately from each other through different methods.
While working dogs and hunting dogs can trace their origins quite far back, most dogs have only existed since the Victorian era. Dog breeding really took off during that time, and not all dogs bred were intended for work. Darwin and his theories were at the forefront, and Victorians were fascinated by the idea of natural selection. They wanted to try breeding the traits they specifically sought themselves.
Breeding Effects
The effects of selective breeding can actually be seen through documentation. Several sources on the internet have compared pictures of dogs from 100 years ago to modern times. The difference in how breeds look can be dramatic. The bull terrier was almost unrecognizable a century ago compared to today’s standard. Modern pugs and Boston terriers have much flatter noses, which can cause serious health problems for the animals. The modern Shetland sheepdog is almost twice the size it was a century ago.
All these changes were conscious choices by breeders, and now, in our time, they are the expected characteristics whether they are beneficial or harmful to the breed. Where in the past dogs were bred for a purpose, to work, these modern dogs are often bred solely for aesthetics with little regard for the dog itself. Some dogs will have physical health problems ranging from bone disorders, respiratory problems, and poor eyesight to behavioral problems such as aggression as a result.
Another problem with this selective breeding, especially as it relates to what people consider purebreds, is the lack of genetic diversity. This can mean that, going forward, dogs that are too closely related genetically will continue to worsen health problems in subsequent generations if the genetics are not changed. This is one of the many reasons why some people consider it better to adopt a dog from a shelter than to pay for a puppy from a breeder, not to mention that dog breeding is often a cruel and exhausting process for the dogs involved who are forced to constantly reproduce.
Why Are Different Breeds Still the Same?
The great diversity in dog breeds presents a problem as far as reproduction is concerned. Because all dogs are genetically the same species, they can reproduce with each other. That doesn’t sound like a problem until you see a chihuahua and a Great Dane. Scientifically, there is no reason why these two dogs cannot mate. But practically, it could be a disaster, especially if the chihuahua is female. It may not even be possible for a female chihuahua to carry puppies from a Great Dane, so trying to breed them intentionally would be very unethical and cruel.
Even if the logistics of the actual act were successful, the offspring could potentially be very unhealthy. The resulting puppies could have a number of unexpected health problems. These can range from physical problems caused by the size difference to serious behavioral problems.
The reason why this pairing is still a potential success, at the genetic level, is because there are no real differences at the genetic level. Dog breeding is no different from engineering apples. A farmer can cross-pollinate two types of sweet apples together to produce a new apple that is very sweet as a result. The new fruit is still an apple, of course.
Could dog breeds one day become different species? Different like how the red wolf and the gray wolf are different? Never say never, but it’s unlikely. It takes hundreds of thousands of years for mammals to evolve into a separate species from their closest cousins. Remember, Neanderthals and homo sapiens, that’s us, were both humans. We could successfully breed with them, and in fact, we did.
For a dog breed to become a new species, it would need to be isolated from all other dog breeds for tens of thousands of years and undergo a process of evolution, mutation, and adaptation until it was different enough, at the genetic level, from other dogs to qualify as something new. Intentional breeding has changed the phenotype of dogs, which is how they look on the outside, but the genotype, basically what they are on the inside, is the same.
Why Are There More Dogs Than Cats?
So, if you cat lovers are still around, you might be wondering why there are so many more types of dogs than cats. If only a few dogs were bred for working purposes, and so many more were bred just for aesthetics, why are they still so much more numerous than cats?
Also, despite the numbers, why are dog breeds so physically different while most cat breeds look almost the same? You have to admit that the differences between cat breeds are quite small. If you look at a Siamese, Persian, sphinx, and Maine Coon cat, it’s unlikely you’d think they were completely different animals. However, if someone’s first experience with dogs was seeing a Great Dane, Chihuahua, pug, and greyhound, there might be some questions about whether these are all the same animal or not.
First, it’s unlikely that cats have been human companions for as long as dogs have. Evidence suggests that cats were domesticated around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Dog breeding has been going on for thousands of years to get the hunters, herders, and guard dogs we’ve talked about. Cats haven’t been bred much, especially not until around the last century. And even then, we only read about it for aesthetics, not for work. As a result, there is great diversity in dog appearances because they had different purposes.
Cats – no offense intended – don’t really have purposes. Maybe as a barn cat, or a mouser, but you don’t really need specific skills or physique as a cat to do that. Basically, dogs are more useful than cats, so we have more types of them.
The psychology of cats and dogs is also different. Cats are famously independent. People often joke about how they don’t listen to their owners at all. That’s true, for the most part anyway. And that means breeding them for specific purposes isn’t always ideal.
Dogs, on the other hand, come from wolves. Wolves are pack animals and are used to working in groups. There used to be a lead dog, even in the wild. They have a genetic predisposition to follow direction, and that makes them ideal as companions for humans. Early humans were able to recognize that dogs would respond to commands under certain circumstances, and their willingness to please and their intelligence made them a logical choice to work together.
That being said, it’s worth noting that there are some rare cat breeds out there that break the mold. The Savannah cat, for example, is bred from a serval cat and a domestic cat. The result is an animal that is much larger than usual. A healthy Savannah cat can still weigh up to 30 pounds. A normal house cat usually weighs 8 to 12 pounds. So there is a little bit of creative breeding happening with cats, making giants like Great Danes, but it is much rarer, and there are not many other breeds that fit the bill besides the Savannah.
Source: emka.web.id