[CLASSIFIED]

Future of Technology - Australia's hybrid shark reveals evolution in action

[boombatty]

Damn Cobra! At it again in their ruthless attempts to take over the world.

[Reaver Strike]

Just read the same thing on MSN.

[CLASSIFIED]

I'm guessing the two types of sharks got busy with each other.

[Jason Abbadon]

Next on my list of hybrids- flying sharks!
Open season on ocean dredge fishing, whalers....oh, justice at last for our finned friends...

[Crazy Jetty]

That is so beyond awesome!

[Crazy Jetty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Abbadon

Next on my list of hybrids- flying sharks!
Open season on ocean dredge fishing, whalers....oh, justice at last for our finned friends...

Get a sonic screwdriver, and go to a cloudy planet!

[BigHanksCustoms]

You just know Sharktopus is coming soon......

[CLASSIFIED]

I'm hoping for Sharkodile.

[boombatty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CLASSIFIED

I'm hoping for Sharkodile.

I'm hoping for Chocodile myself, and then a ChocoTaco. Next thing you know it is Armageddon.

[CLASSIFIED]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boombatty

I'm hoping for Chocodile myself, and then a ChocoTaco. Next thing you know it is Armageddon.

Chocodile is awesome. Especially when frozen.

Do you remember E.L. Fudge?

[Jason Abbadon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigHanksCustoms

You just know Sharktopus is coming soon......

Yeah..in your mouth.
That thing is straight up hentai.

[CLASSIFIED]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Abbadon

Yeah..in your mouth.
That thing is straight up hentai.

When I tap your head twice, that means I'm ready to go...

[trebleshot]

Wow, this thread went downhill fast. Get back on topic or the thread will be closed.

[CLASSIFIED]

The article fails to show how this is evolution in action IMO.

Maybe I'm missing something, and the 2 sharks have different numbers of chromosomes or something, but the article doesn't state that.

I mean different types of dogs breed with each other all the time. Why would sharks be any different?

[trebleshot]

Based on what I read in the article, this particular mating was unheard of until now. Dogs and cats interbreeding in the wild is fairly common (except with big cats, where it's much rarer).

I guess they never thought sharks would do something like that, since they never had any evidence to suggest it (unlike mutts, ligers and tiglons. Oh, my.)

The evolution comment was based on one theory to explain why these sharks are interbreeding in the wild.

[Jason Abbadon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CLASSIFIED

The article fails to show how this is evolution in action IMO.

Maybe I'm missing something, and the 2 sharks have different numbers of chromosomes or something, but the article doesn't state that.

I mean different types of dogs breed with each other all the time. Why would sharks be any different?

That there are different kinds of dogs at all is evolution in action.
Directed evolution to be specific.

Man took wolves, domesticated them and bred certain characteristics that appealed to him and so you get different kinds of dog breeds that can still interbreed because, with very little difference, they're still domesticated wolves (at the genetic level).

With domesticated breeds and livestock, man is taking the place of Natural Selection- he selects what animals get to live and breed.
In the wild, it's true Natural Selection- species competing (with luck) for food and survival, usually adapting (through breeding) to environmental stresses over at least hundreds of years, but as was theorized, sudden changes like climate chance or food shortage may jumpstart the process into high gear to prevent extinction.

So the hybrid sharks is a big thing- VERY big if it shows climate changes foster adaptation within just a few generations- possibly explaining how it is that sharks survived so many othe great extinctions and even ice ages, when most of the other species worldwide died off.

[Jason Abbadon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trebleshot

Dogs and cats interbreeding in the wild is fairly common (except with big cats, where it's much rarer).
.

Outside of Photoshop, that's not possible.
Interspecies breeding is rarely viable within the same family of animals- some primates with other primates and birds to other birds, -but not birds and primates- sorry no flyng monkeys to defend your castle.

No cat/dog mixes either. You cant mix genes that way. Not even in a lab.

All breeds of dogs- including wolves, cyotes and housepets are still dogs and all breeds of cats still cats.
There are slight exceptions like breeding donkeys and horses (both part of the Equine family) to get mules, but mules are sterile and cant reproduce on their own.

[CLASSIFIED]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Abbadon

So the hybrid sharks is a big thing- VERY big if it shows climate changes foster adaptation within just a few generations- possibly explaining how it is that sharks survived so many othe great extinctions and even ice ages, when most of the other species worldwide died off.

Ah yes, looking at it from that perspective certainly does have implications for the random aspect of evolution and thus the way evolution is traditionaly viewed by many within society.

This evolution of Sharks certainly atleast appears guided by events; climate change in particular.

[Jason Abbadon]

Yeah- the perfect exmple of such adaptation is the one that Darwin himself first noticed- Galapagos Finches- each tiny island in the Galapagos has it's own kind of finch- a small bird that was probably blown there by chance.
On each island, the basic fich adapted to suit it's locale- some growing long beaks to sip nectar, others short beaks for nut cracking, etc.
Their plumage also changed over generations, making them visually distinct...but they were still adaptations of the common finch.

Evolution is really a bitch to get your head around as an unguided force- that tiny adaptations (mutations) that add up over generations account for all the diversity in nature as the more successful members of a species, plus dumb luck, become dominant.
External stresses do shape species, but it's usually like water making a canyon. Major upheveals uually only cause mass extinctions (as we see happening from pollution and climate change, over-fishing/hunting, habitat loss, etc.).

Religious groups love to say that it's a theory that says "people come from monkeys" but tat's not the case at all- Darwin only speculated that humans and other primates share a common ancestor- making us as less apes than houscats are lions, but related.

Darwin was strictly religous for most of his life (personal tragedy doing more to change him than science) and almost did not publish at all after sitting on his work for a decade- but another scientist was coming up with some f his same conclusions and so he published, knowing what a shit-storm it would cause.

[CLASSIFIED]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Abbadon

Evolution is really a bitch to get your head around as an unguided force.

I agree with this statement, but only for those that have taken the time to try to understand what it is they're really asking you to accept that is happening. Many simply accept what is taught in many a classroom as the truth with little independant inspection.

Over the course of it's dimminance, many scientists have speculated that it has more to do with external influences due to what they were actually observing but often their takes on what was happening were shot down because they didn't include the random aspect evolution's main propponents love so much.

[Jason Abbadon]

Skeptics need look no farther than humans- better environment (less stresses) lead to larger specimens (no predators, better nutrition) and less urge to procreate young (leading to longer lifespans).

If you could time-travel back a couple thousand years, you'd be a freak- super tall, with facial features unlike anyone else (generally speaking) due to the introduction of exotic traits in your family line.

[CLASSIFIED]

I'm not 100% sure we're talking about the same thing.

Our DNA knows what it is doing; shark DNA included.

I'm partial to blondes, but if there aren't any at the party, then I'll settle for the willing.

It is the same thing with sharks. The shark decides to mate with a different type of shark to insure its survival. Not because it randomly mutated a gene that compelled it to, but because its dna told it to because of the change in the enviroment.

To your point I first quoted; this is big news for evolution the way it is commonly understood, or more appropriately; the way it is commonly proffessed.

[Jason Abbadon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CLASSIFIED

I'm not 100% sure we're talking about the same thing.

Our DNA knows what it is doing; shark DNA included.

I'm partial to blondes, but if there aren't any at the party, then I'll settle for the willing.

It is the same thing with sharks. The shark decides to mate with a different type of shark to insure its survival. Not because it randomly mutated a gene that compelled it to, but because its dna told it to because of the change in the enviroment.

To your point I first quoted; this is big news for evolution the way it is commonly understood, or more appropriately; the way it is commonly proffessed.

Generally though, instinct only goes so far- members of the same genus but different breeds in the wild dont crossbreed this way- keeping it within the breed allows for specialization over time- and the mutations are what give us stuf like Hammerheads or great whites instead of every kind of shark humping each other all day which (if it could work) would produce one kind of shark that was too much of a generalst to suvive in a range of environments.

Hammerheads cant survive in the arctic and the Greenland shark cant survive in the tropic- nor can/would they interbreed- the hyvrid in the article only works because the two breeds are only one step removed from each other- adapted to warm or cold waters, but much closer than a hammerhead.

It could also be that over-fishing has led to sharks ranging farther afield in search of mates- that "DNA telling them what to do" is exactly right, but it's instinct, not decision making - reproduce enough and you get a slim number of mutations which may help an animal survive long enough to pass it's genes on.

It's a lot of throwing paint against the wall and seeing what sticks- messy, bloody, unthinking progression, with no goal other that of continued existance.

[CLASSIFIED]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Abbadon

It's a lot of throwing paint against the wall and seeing what sticks- messy, bloody, unthinking progression, with no goal other that of continued existance.

Well this kind of sounds like the general conception, that last part included; which sort of contradicts itself.

Continued existance is the only real goal, all others are just slight varriations.

On the surface, this artcle reports; "Look everyone: evolution!" But really, not "a lot of throwing paint against the wall and seeing what sticks". No this evolution we are seeing in action with our own eyes, the final proof of the theory if you will isn't unthinking at all.

Its, oh shit, climate change, do something or die. Go against what you generally do (as you pointed out). Evolve and mate with that other shark in order to create a new type of shark more fit for survival so that our genes can continue to exist.

Not much random about that, though spinning it as such certainly fits the narrative I suppose.