Posted by:
Rtdunham
at Sun Jul 10 12:45:43 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Rtdunham ]
>>Hybrid snakes are fine for the hobby and they will not harm the environment.
hybrids may not harm the natural environment (unless, of course, other "bad people" choose to turn some of them loose into it). But i'd argue that their presence diminishes people's appreciation for wildlife in its natural forms and that could in turn add to the threats to the natural environment. I'd be curious how you think they are "fine" for the hobby, unless it's that the beauty of some of the results might attract new hobbyists--albeit people who might not recognize there are wild types that are beautiful too and that because they're natural might be even more impressive and more to be appreciated.
Of course, perhaps there's an argument for people following the lead of some of the tropical fish hobbyists and painting their specimens prior to sale. The bright colors inarguably produce some colorful specimens that are arguably pretty--if you don't realize they're just artificial constructs unlike what might be found in anture--and interesting--if you don't mind the bolts showing in their necks. Seriously, though, insteasd of name-calling (see below) advance your argument by putting together a serious presentation of how hybrids are "fine". I'm willing to read it with an open mind. Well, half of one, at least.
>>This is what certain individuals with half a brain want people to think.
that's just a dumb argument and your other posts over time on the forum have shown you know that, imho.
>> Whenever I hear hybrids are bad it hits a nerve and its all because of misinformation and peer pressure.
Well, let's look at those two things separately.
what misinformation? I'd propose that every hybrid created creates a new life form that can never revert to the nominative form. It exposes herpetoculture to risk from people who do not adequately--much less properly--identify them; some differences are subtle enough that keying--much less photo ID--will not be sufficient to provide accurate post-hybridization identification. It's not so much hybridization as it is bastardization. Dogs have evolved into a number of "types"; is that a desired goal for the snake world--that someday people will be breeding "those red things" and "those things with the ziggly stripes that look really cool to me" or whatever, and no remnant of appreciation for their origins? WE are--or were, a decade ago--in a captive environment in which people prized animals for their identities as they existed in the wild, relished breeding them, appreciated the variations within the natural species and subspecies and insights into natural phenomenon such as intergradation and even--as phil peak's posts show jsut today, in variations that might or might not be related to habitat. We relished seeing a specimen in the wild (will finding a hybrid in the wild someday really make your socks roll up and down?) And so on. So if you cite "misinformation", give some examples of it (i'm sure you can find some, and some will have no merit, some some merit, and some a lot--so we can evaluate them rationally).
As for peer pressure, i can only figure you're trying to object to anyone who might be influenced by or agree with someone who posits an argument that there are undesirable effects from hybridization? It's hard to imagine how the masses could be influenced by a bunch of half-brains.
This half's for you,
Terry
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this half brain says you're not entirely right... - Rtdunham, Sun Jul 10 12:45:43 2005