Index to various articles, across a remarkable range of biological topics, on the website Exploring the Bio-edge

@matthewinabinett @ptexis @paradoxornithidae @jeremygilmore @tonyrebelo @ludwig_muller @christiaan_viljoen @davidbygott @capracornelius @simontonge @botswanabugs @karoopixie

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Publicado el agosto 31, 2024 03:26 MAÑANA por milewski milewski

Comentarios

@milewski
While I am sympathetic to questioning common scientifical wisdom and to testing alternative hypothesis, I found most any topic on this webpage treated in a laconic and self-righteous manner, lacking both depth and knowledge. Sure: One can start by questioning. But one has to study the entire literature before arguing for alternative explanations. And ideally, spend time in the field, too.
On this webpage, I wound up disagreeing with any hypothesis which touched topics that are dear to me. And often, paragraphs started simply from wrong facts and inexplicable preassumptions.

Publicado por capracornelius hace 19 días

@capracornelius

Many thanks for your comment.

Publicado por milewski hace 19 días

Some entries I find very interesting and food for thought, especially the role of metabolism in tolerances of adaptation (elephants, predators not migrating, etc.), But I know too little bout it and generally I prefer longer explanations which allow me at least to follow the writer's train of thought. Sources are missing. And I am missing pros and cons to alternative explanations.

Just exemplarily on two issues: While I do agree that modern dogs might have involved/incorporated more than one species of Canid, I doubt that there was an extinct main progenitor other than Canis lupus. There is no evidence for that in scientifical literature, no fossil remains, no genetical hint. Why can have the basic pattern that you see in dogs not have evolved within dogs? What makes it basic? Were are the analogies of that pattern to variation within existing wild canids? -
I would sure love to see precise examination of dogs genomes in all parts of the world and would not be surprised to see if Cuon or African Wolf "participated" locally. But I am far from claiming this.
Quagga seems just to have been or more or less common morph locally (among striped individuals/"Dauws" https://www.alamy.de/zebra-im-berliner-zoo-image597589358.html?imageid=2C015311-4CC2-4E32-AF89-432C1F1AAE6C&p=2295306&pn=1&searchId=486322db1a2eb726121b73dd884c1a2f&searchtype=0), which is why the Plains Zebra's name was changed from Equus burchelli to Equus quagga recently.
I that light I find it difficult to argue for any special adaptations of the quagga-morph that go beyond specialisations of the entire local population. The morph "Quagga" might or might not have had selective advantages, but probably little selective pressure against it locally, less than it would have had elsewhere in the Plains Zebras range.

Nature isn't always perfect. The variation within humans may act in an isolating fashion culturally and genetically, but that may just be an accidental by-product of allopatrie rather than an adaptation that preserves culture. I have no problems with arguing that some cultures have difficulties to coexist/interact with a different culture. But I am far from believing that divergent physionomic traits were selected for with the benefit of conserving culture. Especially before humans had become technologically sophisticated, any exchange of knowledge, wisdom and genes must have been of considerable selective advantage.

It is great that this webpage opens a window to legitimate questions and alternative explanations/thinking. But it should not claim alternative knowledge.

Publicado por capracornelius hace 19 días

@capracornelius

Again, many thanks. I'm grateful that you've delved so energetically into the various items, and considered the topics so deeply.

Publicado por milewski hace 19 días

The website has interesting content, but of course it's not an "orthodox" presentation of biology so to say, simply some intriguing points. I myself am skeptical of the existence of any "Canis rubronegrus", however it's still something that may be considered as apart of the evolution of the domestic dog. Nevertheless, I feel like your content has increased my enthusiasm for the natural world, and I continue to read posts made here.

Publicado por paradoxornithidae hace 11 días

I believe Skoglund's 2022 study is a good reference point for understanding the origin of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris)

Publicado por paradoxornithidae hace 11 días

@paradoxornithidae

Many thanks for your comments. Does Skoglund (2022) account for the fact that the domestic dog, unlike any wild canid including the wolf, possesses a wild-type (fully symmetrical) black-and-tan pattern (or, more precisely, system of patterns)?

Publicado por milewski hace 10 días

I don't believe he does, however the very topic in question seems to be rarely discussed at all in literature

Publicado por paradoxornithidae hace 10 días

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