There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
10-01-2016, 11:38 PM( This post was last modified: 10-02-2016, 12:18 AM by GrizzlyClaws )
(10-01-2016, 11:22 PM)Pckts Wrote: "trivial" would be subjective though, right?
Because I assume the difference between races in human beings is considered "trivial" from a genetic standpoint.
And their geographic requirements stimulated new adaptions which I assumed created genetic branch offs. Darker skin was adapted to protect against the suns rays, slit eyes were adapted to protect against high wind speed and dust (allegedly) and so on. And while a black person has no problem mating with white person or asian or hispanic etc. They are genetically different, I assume.
I'm sure if you go back long enough, you will find common ancestors for all tigers but they still adapted to their geographic requirements overs 1000s of years and if we were to go around breeding indian bengals with amurs it may not be an issue over 1000s of years but I think you would set the sub species back by doing so. Is it the worst thing in the world?
Absolutely not, protecting tigers as a whole or any big cat should out weigh a single sub species but if we have the opportunity to protect and maintain genetic traits, I think that would be best.
Under the natural occurrence, all tiger subspecies that share the geographic proximity would have the genetic exchange at some point. Now the complete isolation between the tiger subspecies is in fact not under the normal circumstance, and were artificially made under the human interference.
From a genetic standpoint, all diversification of the outer appearance is undoubtedly trivial. Look at the difference between the canine breeds, they all belong to one single subspecies, and the diversification of their outer appearance in fact even exceeds that of the modern humans.
All modern tiger subspecies were in fact a re-combination of the ancient tiger subspecies that survived after the prehistoric catastrophe, so let them evolve under their own way.
I am not advocating to mix them on purpose under the captivity, but no need to go under another extreme over the genetic purity.
In my opinion, both to mix them on purpose or to isolate them on purpose are in fact human's "playing God behavior". I don't like the extreme on the two sides of the same coin.