Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of the biggest debates in science today is whether or not to classify living things by appearance...or by genetic variance...which makes GIGANTIC differences! For example with dogs, those who want to consider them a subspecies of canis lupus (myself included) argue that they are almost genetically identical in terms of the entire genome (I'm not sure of the exact percentage of difference...but its not more than a percent I don't think...). They are so closely related that they can interbreed freely and have perfectly healthy reproductively intact offspring...and yet are considered entirely different species. On the other hand there are animals classified as being "closely related" that differ greatly in thier genomes. It makes it very hard to understand what the hell is going on! lol Basically it's a matter of listening to whatever the "books" say since no one can agree on a single way to decide what's what...Basically our current system of classification needs to be tossed and everything reclassified (in my opinion the best way would be by genetics).

Dedalus and I were sort of talking about this way down the page...lol He made a good point by mentioning that anyone can see the physical differences in color and size and shape and whatnot of dog breeds...but leos differ mostly just by color (and apparently scale numbers and toe structure....)...however dogs are all considered to be the same species, while they should even be a subspecies of canis lupis...and some of these leos seem to be considered subspecies without very much variance at all...just an example of how screwed up our classification system is!...lol
-----
Christina

0.3.1 leos (soon to be 1.3.1!)
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)
-soon to be 1.0 tangerine rainwater albino
1.0 australian shepherd/cattle dog (Foster...although he was being fostered before I got him...that has nothing to do with his name...It's after the beer!...lol since he's australian and I'm a college student!)

sorry that I keep comparing everything to dogs (and horses somewhere on the page...lol)...they're just the animals I know best and its easy for me to make comparisons with them. I'm not trying to make direct comparisons really...just basic comparisons about some pretty basic things.
-----
Christina

0.3.1 leos (soon to be 1.3.1!)
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)
-soon to be 1.0 tangerine rainwater albino
1.0 australian shepherd/cattle dog (Foster...although he was being fostered before I got him...that has nothing to do with his name...It's after the beer!...lol since he's australian and I'm a college student!)

They're getting better. What I've learned is that classification really is one of the hot topics in biology today, and a lot of scientists are pushing for the molecular system as a way to classify species rather than the morphological one. My biology textbook actually had both versions and basically said that it would proabably only have the molecular one in a few years' time.

My biology teacher was a tanonomist and said the same thing. He also talked about how if two species can produce viable, fertile offpring, they're probably either the same species or a sub species. The problem is that there are just SO many different kinds of animals, the debate will always rage as to who's related to who, and most importantly, where those animals fit on the so called 'tree of life.'

Anyway, thats just what I learned about taxonomy from my bio class....I had trouble finding it interesting at first, but now I'm sort of getting into it.

You probably know this, but one of the big deal guys in the whole classification thing is Carl Woese, who was (and may still be, I don't know) a professor at U of I. He came up with the whole thing about life not being only classified into five kingdoms, but Domains as well.

Anyway, I just thought you might find that interesting if you didn't already know it

Yep...certainly did know that!! How could I not going to U of I?!...lol GO ILLINI!!!!!!!
-----
Christina

0.3.1 leos (soon to be 1.3.1!)
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)
-soon to be 1.0 tangerine rainwater albino
1.0 australian shepherd/cattle dog (Foster...although he was being fostered before I got him...that has nothing to do with his name...It's after the beer!...lol since he's australian and I'm a college student!)

heh, I figured you would know that. Made me look smart, though...didn't it?

Hmm...I think I'm supposed to hate the Illini...

it did make you sound smart!...lol Where do you go that you're supposed to hate the illini?!!...
-----
Christina

0.3.1 leos (soon to be 1.3.1!)
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)
-soon to be 1.0 tangerine rainwater albino
1.0 australian shepherd/cattle dog (Foster...although he was being fostered before I got him...that has nothing to do with his name...It's after the beer!...lol since he's australian and I'm a college student!)

Reply,

Well, I go to Illinois State. I'm not sure if I'm -really- supposed to hate the Illini since we're not even in Division 1......we did play you guys in football this year, and didn't get our butt kicked -that- completely

In reality I'm supposed to hate Bradley. They're our true rivals, apparently. I'm not really into sports here since nobody really cares, though I was in the marching band so I had to pretend to have school spirit. I'm actually going down to U of I on Tuesday for a field trip, so I'd better not hate it too much!

lol...It's great here! I believe your team was the only one we beat this year in football...lol sinced we sucked as I don't believe that says much for ISU's team...lol I happen to be a big football fan...when we know how to play anyway...lol Anyway...just out of curiusity, what are you doing when you come down Tues?
-----
Christina

0.3.1 leos (soon to be 1.3.1!)
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)
-soon to be 1.0 tangerine rainwater albino
1.0 australian shepherd/cattle dog (Foster...although he was being fostered before I got him...that has nothing to do with his name...It's after the beer!...lol since he's australian and I'm a college student!)

Heh...yeah, our team wasn't very good. I'm a huge football fan myself, but I follow the St. Louis Rams, not college. We actually had a pretty good showing at Memorial, even though we lost. Set a bunch of records, apparently.

But anyway, I'm coming down there with my typography class. We're gonna visit the print shop to see letterpress printing in action. We have a letterpress machine here, but it's not in use. I'm looking forward to it; it'll be nice to see some of the stuff we learned in class actually happening.

cool. I'd probably be bored out of my mind...lol but whatever floats yer boat! I'm a pretty big fan of football...but only teams I care about...lol In other words the ILLINI, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Pittsburgh Steelers...I'll also watch teams that friends and family are friends of (although I hate the Bears...lol). Anyway...you'll like it down here! It's a great place!
-----
Christina

0.3.1 leos (soon to be 1.3.1!)
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)
-soon to be 1.0 tangerine rainwater albino
1.0 australian shepherd/cattle dog (Foster...although he was being fostered before I got him...that has nothing to do with his name...It's after the beer!...lol since he's australian and I'm a college student!)

n/p

n/p
-----
Christina

0.3.1 leos (soon to be 1.3.1!)
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)
-soon to be 1.0 tangerine rainwater albino
1.0 australian shepherd/cattle dog (Foster...although he was being fostered before I got him...that has nothing to do with his name...It's after the beer!...lol since he's australian and I'm a college student!)