Just as there are different breeds of dogs and these can be further catagorised into full breeds and half breeds and so on, are there a certain amount of breeds of humans. To this are some of us thoroughbreds and some of us mongrels? How can you tell which is which?
Well, yes, but we call breeds ethnicities.
Plus, we’re a lot more mongrelised – going back only 2 generations I come from just about all of Europe, my gf is the same with a bit of Africa thrown in to the mix. I think that rules out classifying half-breeds and the like.
To be more specific, I don’t mean ethnicities alone. I’m talking about seeing a person on television and thinking “they remind me of …” even though they are apparently unrelated and from very different parts of the world. I don’t think that’s entirely coincidental. And depending on the original amount of breeds that existed, there could still be quite a number of purebreds around.
I don’t know how popular a view this is, but I have noticed the same thing. There are lots of people who seem to be a very specific “type”. Big toothed, horsey, blond people come to mind for me.
Not in any meaningful manner. Humans are incredibly diverse and interrelated, and unless you are willing to restrict your “breeds” to very, very small ethnic groups it would be meaningless. Humans interbreed way to much.
That’s my feeling on the matter. Plus you can’t have the same family breeding only within itself for generations, which is possible with other animals.
[sub]I hope this thread doesn’t turn the way I think it’s going to turn…[/sub]
Animal “breeds” are just that, animals that were BRED for specific purposes, especially in your example of dogs. They are ALL the same species, the only “real” difference between breeds of dogs, are their external apperance or skills and even that is subjective. Ask the average person to pick out a pitbull in group of a dozen of similar ‘breeds’ and I guarantee you, they’ll pick the wrong breed.
Thoroughbreds which really refer to horses; themselves were originally a MIX, a cross, HALF-BREEDS; between Arabian stallions and English mares…heh.
Yep, they were mongrels. Modern Thoroughbreds are a REFINEMENT of those original mongrels, which increased the best traits and reduced the undesired ones…but they are still horses and can reproduce with any other horse. Any label of “breed” on human influenced domestic animals, are placed in order to define them, but they that’s all they are…labels.
There are no thoroughbreds in nature, as natural selection requires the constant influx of new genetic material to allow for a species to survive the constant pressure of change. Which means, any human who thinks his ‘group’ are GENETIC thoroughbreds, is full of it.
Horseshit, that is.
I sometimes imagine what it would be like if some alien power came to Earth and decided to breed people the way we breed dogs. I figure they’d definitely want something analogous to a basset hound or a dachshund: short little people with little tiny legs way too short for their bodies, and with big heads. I doubt that color variations would be much of a factor. I mean, it isn’t much of a factor in dog breeds.
Naturally, the idea of pitting humans against each other would come up, and they’d start breeding for speed or for fighting ability, or maybe they’d just stick to the sports we already have, some of which already favor people who are outside the bounds of normal size for our species. So they’d breed tall, fast basketball players, say.
Somebody would probably think that albinism is cute, never mind the terribly impaired vision that goes along with it. So they’d try to breed albinos.
That’s what my imagination is like.