How does the new breed of 'werecats' fit into evolution?

by EndofMysteries 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  EndofMysteries

  Incase you haven't heard yet, there is now a new breed of cat, the Lykoi.

  

  Now this cat is the result of some mutation that occassionally happened and some breeders got 2 of these cats that got this mutation and successfully breed them, and now there are breeders and it's a type of cat now.

  This cat has a preditory nature, they say it's similar to a hound dog.

  Now here is where my questions about evolution come into play on this.

  There was no long slow period of change. No thousands of years for this cat to become more predatory, or slow change on fur not being needed and the change, etc.

  In 1,000 years, people of the future may come up with how this cat evolved over millions of years when in reality it just appeared out of the blue, and taking 2 with the same changes and mating them created this new breed.

  If I recall correctly, hasn't there been many arguments about God putting characteristics into genetics and breeds or species just happening vs all species, etc, from a slow evolution process?
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  cofty

  Occasionally there are mutations that result in significant changes to the phenotype. These "hopeful monsters" rarely survive in the gene pool. Usually there are other deleterious effects that outweigh any other advantages.

  If the mutation is in the code that produces a protein, a useful effect in one part of the body will likely be a problem for the same protein in a different organ.

  Useful mutations are more often found in genetic switches that control the expression of genes.

  Future generations of scientists would have no problem identifying the specific mutation that resulted in the lykoi cat and identifying it's lineage.

  It is not a problem for evolution in any way.
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  Coded Logic

  Great question! The simple answer is that individuals don't evolve. Rather, it's populations that evolve.

  Lykoi are still a sub-species of Felis silvestris catus(domestic house cat). Sub-species means they can still mate and produce viable offspring with other breeds. If this mutation were truly beneficial, it would take thousands of years for it to spread and become dominate in the population. And Felis silvestris catus would STILL BE Felis silvestris catus. In order for it to become its own species it would have to be so different it couldn't mate with domestic house cats anymore.

  A good anology for this is language. The French language is derived from Latin. Over a long period of time Latin evolved into French. But there was no Latin speaking mother who gave birth to a French speaking son. There was no one day everyone stopped speaking Latin and started speaking French. It was a gradual evolution over several generations throughout the entire population. Language is transient. Its always changing. Just like genetics.

  For more information on this sort of thing it would be helpful to do a little research on Allele Frequencies and Ring Species. Hope that answered your question. If you have anymore feel free to ask :)
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  bohm

  can there be any doubt that if the variation in this cat had been pointed to as an illustration of evolution EOM would be writing: but it is just a cat!
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  prologos

  cl: they probably could mate, and would, but could not reproduce. and

  we thought that babies are born with a brain wired for all languages, and the redundant capacities are culled, rather than the good ones added. ?

  "vivre la difference" in cats et al.
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  cantleave

  Selective breeding is a way of accelerating evolution. In the wild it is unlikely that the two animals mated by the breeder would have done so and the breed resulting from this union would not have existed.
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  Vidiot

  Those webbed toes are freaky-looking.

  Imagine if they were polydactyl, too.
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  prologos

  yeah, those membranes between the toes will become wing surfaces given enough time, but

  sadly the overlapping generation will expire in 2075. another event to interrupt orderly evolution.
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  Crazyguy

  Female Hyenas have mock penises, go figure.
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  Vidiot

  prologos - "yeah, those membranes between the toes will become wing surfaces given enough time..."

  "Polydactyl", not "pterodactyl".

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