Scientists solve mystery of Scotland's shrinking sheep

[alienlovechild 75]

Hypothetically, any. Capability is only as good as the genes we've inherited through genetic drift as a particular species/genus/order/etc.

I thought you'd give some more concrete examples like the silver fox or other animals bred by humans.

"The Domesticated Silver Fox is the result of nearly 50 years of experiments in the Soviet Union and Russia to domesticate the silver morph of the Red Fox. Notably, the new foxes not only become more tame, but more dog-like as well: they lost their distinctive musky "fox smell", became more friendly with humans, put their ears down (like dogs), wagged their tails when happy and began to vocalize and bark like domesticated dogs. The breeding project was set up by the Soviet scientist Dmitri Belyaev."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tame_foxes

[Peikko 1,575]

You really are having a hard time understanding what evolution actually means, aren't you Alien?

[alienlovechild 75]

You really are having a hard time understanding what evolution actually means, aren't you Alien?

You've posted nothing on the subject on this thread so how could I learn?

[Nagishkaw 510]

The shrinking sheep is all Scandal's fault.

[The_Dude 1,142]

lol, somehow, somewhere, I expected a Welsh joke

[Peikko 1,575]

A welsh joke when these are Scottish sheep? That would be simply wrong.

[The_Dude 1,142]

You think the welshman checks to see what nationality the sheep is before he dives in?

[HAL 9000 96]

Hypothetically, any. Capability is only as good as the genes we've inherited through genetic drift as a particular species/genus/order/etc.

I thought you'd give some more concrete examples like the silver fox or other animals bred by humans.

"The Domesticated Silver Fox is the result of nearly 50 years of experiments in the Soviet Union and Russia to domesticate the silver morph of the Red Fox. Notably, the new foxes not only become more tame, but more dog-like as well: they lost their distinctive musky "fox smell", became more friendly with humans, put their ears down (like dogs), wagged their tails when happy and began to vocalize and bark like domesticated dogs. The breeding project was set up by the Soviet scientist Dmitri Belyaev."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tame_foxes

That's called artificial selection.

[Ban Hammer 14,293]

The shrinking sheep is all Scandal's fault.

scandal washed them in hot water?

[rooster 1]

The shrinking sheep is all Scandal's fault.

scandal washed them in hot water?

Well you know Thanti is arriving tomorrow. He figured if they were smaller, he could hide MORE of them in the shed so Thanti wouldn't find them.

[Ban Hammer 14,293]

The shrinking sheep is all Scandal's fault.

scandal washed them in hot water?

Well you know Thanti is arriving tomorrow. He figured if they were smaller, he could hide MORE of them in the shed so Thanti wouldn't find them.

so that's what he's been up to!

[warriorprincess 0]

It's the ecomony. They can't afford to eat fancy food anymore so they're losing weight.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

You guys are trying to have a serious discussion about sheep?? Here in off topic?? Now I've heard it all. You wanna talk about sheep? Head on over to the chopfvck thread.

[scandal 951]

The shrinking sheep is all Scandal's fault.

scandal washed them in hot water?

Well you know Thanti is arriving tomorrow. He figured if they were smaller, he could hide MORE of them in the shed so Thanti wouldn't find them.

so that's what he's been up to!

I see my reputation precedes me I hadn't even posted on this thread, and yet I seem to be mentioned repeatedly here.

Yes, the sheep are safely tucked away in the shed. My plan is to sneak out at night to entertain them while Thanti is watching Thai soap operas on TV.

ALC raises a real question, that was not taken seriously. What is the most complex organism observed to show evolutionary change within a humanly-observable period? (I've paraphrased, but that was the gist).

I recently read two very good books on evolution - "Why Evolution is True", Jerry Coyne and "Your Inner Fish", Neil Shubin.

In the former book, there is a chapter on speciation - the process by which a single species splits into two separate gene pools which do not interbreed. Typically it is caused in the wild by having a geographic barrier (mountain range, ocean, etc) which suddenly splits a population in two. Each group evolves in distinct trajectories through random mutations in their gene pools over many generations until eventually they are distinct, and even when recombined are unable/unwilling to mate.

Here is a quote from Coyne's book, relevant to ALC's question:

What about the critical idea that reproductive barriers are the by-product of evolutionary change? That, at least, can be tested in the laboratory. Biologists do this by performing selection experiments, forcing animals or plants to adapt through evolution to different environments. This is a model of what happens when isolated natural populations encounter different habitats. After a period of adaptation, the different "populations" are tested in the lab to see if they've evolved reproductive barriers. Since these experiments take place over tens to dozens of generations, while speciation in the wild takes thousands of generations, we can't expect to see the origin of full species. But we should occasionally see the beginnings of reproductive isolation.

Surprisingly, even these short-duration experiments quite often produce genetic barriers. More than half of these studies (there are about twenty of them, all done on flies because of their short generation time) give a positive result, often showing reproductive isolation between populations within a year after selection begins. Most often, adaptation to different "environments" (different types of food, for example, or the ability to move up versus down in a vertical maze) results in mating discrimination between the populations. We're not sure exactly what traits the populations use to discriminate against each other, but the evolution of genetic barriers in such a short time confirms a key prediction of geographic speciation.

So ALC, at least to the complexity of fruit flies, there are laboratory measurements of visible evolutionary change.

I won't comment MC's original article, other than to say I too am suspicious that natural selection in a mammalian sheep population can cause any observable change within a human lifetime.

Now, sexual fetishism within a mammalian sheep population --- that might be occurring in my shed as we speak!!!!! :dance:

You guys are trying to have a serious discussion about sheep?? Here in off topic?? Now I've heard it all. You wanna talk about sheep? Head on over to the chopfvck thread.

Serious .... and not quite so serious , all at the same time!

[lostinblue 1,989]

You are dealing with a rare flock of wild sheep on an island. I would guess this weight loss would be due to inbreeding within this "rare" genetic population. Environmental temps can have an affect on birthweight. The colder it is the more blood flows to the reproductive tract as the animial eats more. Thus allowing for a larger animial at birth.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.js...m/bc/181411.htm

Environmental effects may also have an effect on calf birth weight and dystocia. Cold weather may increase birth weights and subsequently increase the incidence of dystocia.

Warmer weather means smaller kids at birth. Genetics won't change in this short time period as suggested in this article. Maybe in fruit flies but in mammals it is a no. This is just another bogus global warming scare.What can we dream up next to blame global warming on .