Random thought that came to me in the big cats thread. Is there a difference in scientific thought between breed and sub species, or is it just that domestic animals are called breeds and, sub species for wild animals?
some explanations here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subspecies#Nomenclature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breed basically breed is a more or less colloquial term, and would rank below subspecies in classification, but it's not accepted in taxonomy
http://failblog.org/2011/11/21/epic-fail-parenting-this-kid-better-be-a-bamf/ Heehehehehehe But what species would elves be a breed or subspecies of?
Er... hanibal.... have you done college of winter hold quest where you need to go search for this crazy mage researching dwemer? if not..... damn... i WANT to TELL you SOMETHING But i CANT! =P =(
Surely elves, humans, orcs, khajits would all be species not breed, then altmer, dunmer and bosmer would be sub species. A breed is created due to artificial selection via human breeding of animals (thanks Fish), and I am sure that the altmer would take offense at the thought that humans have selectively bred them for appearance. And I am not sure if you can have a sub species of a breed. Just depends on what side you take of calling them races or species.
Thats why I said it depends on where you stand in regards to calling them a race or a species. The Altmer believe that they were created by the Aedra while humans came about in some other way. So how can they be of the same species if they have no common descent? It's simply a usual common fantasy and even sci-fi trope that species can interbreed regardless of them having no common ancestor. You can either call them all the same races, or simply say its because of magic.
Thats a very debated theory in the LoTR universe. Early Tolkien thought is that they are debased forms of elves, later he decided this was impossible and changed them to humans combined with other animals through the power of Melkor. There is also the story that some greater orcs may be Ainur in the form of Orcs.
"The differences between subspecies are usually less distinct than the differences between species, but more distinct than the differences between breeds or races (races can be assigned to different subspecies if taxonomically different)." There's the important part. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subspecies#Nomenclature
So if humans are only a couple of percent different to chimps how big a percentage is required before it is physically impossible to breed? For example lions and tigers are very similar structurally but produce sterile (normally) offspring, so presumably they are on the edge between being the same species and not being the same species. Domestic dogs and wolves on the other hand look remarkably different in somes cases but are capable of breeding (tho getting a chihuahuah and a wolf to mate might be kinda difficult). Can you get domestic cats to breed with wild cats the same way (ie not feral domestic cats)? Also where does the cheetah stand on this, it can purr unlike big cats, and can't retract its claws like other cats, any other cats that straddle the big and little cat line?
As far as I know (which is about as far as year 12 biology), "breed" isn't a scientific term. The original scientific classification only goes as far as species. I'm guessing the "breed" classification is purely for domestic reference, not scientific.
I think that's a very complex subject, pretty grey in some areas and not as cut and dry as being a straight percentage. For example there are some fish that are considered seperate species, are different colours and never breed together in the wild. But if you put them under different coloured lights in a lab so that they appear the same colour they will breed quite happily and the young are fertile. As I understand it the difference between producing viable and non-viable offspring can be very slight. One very small mutation that changes a protein that covers the egg can stop spern getting through from the wrong "donor". Even just a slight change in mating behaviour can cause a rift that is never bridged even though the resulting offspring would be viable. With chimps and humans I think they have different amounts of chromosomes? So producing a viable offspring is very hard.
