I think I know why elves are magical.

You have to be careful with that, since it's perfectly reasonable for another, totally unrelated species to evolve that has a hip-n-leg structure like ours. All it would need is an opportunity to fill a similar environmental niche to ours.... Like how the hyena more resembles a canine than a mongoose, and the Tasmanian wolf resembles a wolf and not a possum..... Isn't it also a fact that the sabretooth cat (Smilodon?) isn't a true cat at all?

I heard some talk recently about how the bonobo so resembles us that it should be reclassified as a homonid instead of an ape, but personally I think that's getting a little silly.

Anyway, no matter how different a Chihuahua is to a St. Bernard, both are of the same species and genetically compatible with most other canids... genetically, if not, well, physically. :wink:

Of course, there's been at least one case of a lion and tiger mating and producing a fertile offspring.... Which leads me to conclude that Nature does things its own way and doesn't give a crap about the artificial labels humans go around putting on things.

Off-topic off-topic, I read an article recently that stated, "The hyena is related to dogs, cats, mongoose, and meercats." Christ, if you're going to be that vague you might also want to mention how the hyena is additionally related to goldfish, kangaroos, and fungus! People.

 

So, in my fantasy there is a subspices, Homonuclius, that includes the minatures, even Garden Faries (probably a magicly induced cross between one of the minutares & a dragonfly - butterfly hybrid).

The sabertooth structure seems to have come & gone over 30 times in assorted cat speices, but how about cheatas? In some ways they are closer to the dogs than cats. I have met a few house cats that seem to be trying to resurect the sabertooth look.

Pan all the way.

Heard about that one, but little. Saw one of the infertile ones as a kid.

Uh... don't they all go back to the same dog - cat common ancestor? And shouldn't that be mongeese? Or mongooses?

 

I've got one of those. Wolfgang von Tripps, named for the Formula One driver, Wolfie for short. He likes beating up the neighborhood dogs. I've known some violent cats in my life, but I've never before met one who pursued the path of violence with such glee. Crazy bastard.

onder: Well they're all in the order Carnivora, all the dogs and cats and mongooses (yeah it's mongooses, but the article I quoted actually did say "mongoose" as though it were plural, and anyway I personally just love to say "mongeese" even though it's incorrect!) and hyenas, so one would assume they all share a (relatively speaking in a geological time sort of way) recent common ancestor, and I do know both dogs and cats descended from the tree-dwelling Miacis (that's the one you're referring to, right?), but I don't remember reading anything about the other carnivores descending from it.

(Yes I could have broken that paragraph down into multiple sentences, but it would have broken my stream of thought.)

Now that I think of it though, maybe the hyena isn't a sort of mongoose..... I think it's in its own seperate family along with the aardwolf. I wuv the aardwolf. :heart:

I also like referring to baby meercats as "meerkittens". :thumbup:

 

Hmm.

My friend's dog is bisexual and also likes cats. He's a little weirdo, but not as weird as my friend is. Actually, she's not even my friend, really. I hate that--
"That's enough, Hank"
What? I was just about to call her a--
"Hank, I said that's enough."

Anyway, the point is.... Err. Oh! The point is the dog likes cats. How many cross species tests have we done? My younger brother confided in me when he was 13 that he wanted to start a race of half-goldfish humanoids. He's a little weirdo too. Getting back to the point... ah.

Getting back to the point, I have no idea how chromosomes can combine or split or disappear like they seem to. And if a mismatch of chromosome numbers is enough to prevent reproduction (or is it?), how the heck did people mate? What, was there like a double freak accident or something and one was male and the other was female and they managed to hook up? I don't know. I'm not a geneticist.

 

Hmm, gives all new meaning to your signature .

I have a crazy cat, it has settled down some now that it is fat, but still kinda crazy. It is a bengal cat or somethin like that, we found it. It is the only cat I have met that plays in water. I once had a cat scrape a ton of the skin off my hand because I was young and stupid and decided to spray it with the hose while holding t :/ . Not this cat, you can be in another room and turn on the sink and she'll come runnin in and jump into the sink, or at least right next to it and play with the water coming out.

And she is vicious, she fight with me all the time. She attacks my feet when I am walking up the stairs. Never cared much for cats before, but this one is crazy and fits right in with my family

 

Bengal cat?

Bengal cat? You're sure it's not a Bengal tiger, right?

 

http://www.bengalcat.com/

Those cats are sweet. Normally I'm opposed to buying a purebred cat when there are so many perfectly good five-dollar rescue kittens out there (unlike different dog breeds, a cat's pretty much a cat), but one day I am gonna get me one of those!

 

Most organisms are catagorised into Genus and species. However, a subspecies can also be applied. However, please note that a subspecies is only applied in cases where there are not only lots of species within a Genus but where there are two or more species that are so similar that they are only seperated on a minor, and usually physical rather than genetic difference.

Good examples of this in a fantasy world would be a troll. They could be classified as Genus Homo and species buttugliest. However, you could further divide these because the mountain troll and forest troll would be almost identical except maybe for skin colouration. In which case you could rightly call them Homo buttugliest stonus and Homo buttugliest leafus.

Also, regarding the tiger/lion mating, it's not only possible but occurs quite often in lots of species. Usually the offspring is sterile, or at least has a low fecundity, but not always. This is because a species is not only classified by genetic difference, but can also be classified through location or morphological differentiation. The following is a very good definition of species:

A species can be defined as a reproductively viable group of organisms that is reproductively isolated through geological, geographical or biological means.

Essentially, you can have a group of organisms that are essentially the same as another group, except that one has a slightly redder colouration than the other. However, if the are found on different islands and are thus geographically isolated then you can called them different species due to the morphological difference.

 

GORILLA GORILLA GORILLA???? what the heck is that??? genus=gorilla, species gorilla and then what gorilla???

 

You'd be surprised at how lame some scientific names can be. They're mostly derived from Latin, so if a name describes an organism all the way to it's subspecies then they use that. Bufo bufo bufo is the common toad, Ratus ratus rat is the common brown rat. You get the idea. I'm guessing that Gorilla gorilla gorilla is the common gorilla.