Genetic and biological relationship between dogs and wolves?
450432
*Slipping on in* The dog is a mammal in the order Carnivora. Dogs were first domesticated from wolves at least 17,000 years ago, but perhaps as early as 150,000 years ago based upon recent genetic fossil and DNA evidence though there is doubt about the accuracy of this mitochondrial DNA evidence. In this time, the dog has developed into hundreds of breeds with a great degree of variation.\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog\n\nThere is very little genetic difference between any dog and any wolf, coyote, or jackal, etc., so little, in fact, that genetic tests cannot tell how much wolf is in deliberately bred wolf-dogs. The domesticated canines and their wild cousins CAN interbreed.\n\nThe biggest difference is that dogs are domesticated, and wolves are wild animals. What that means is that dogs can be good pets and companions, while wolves are still wild and not suited to living with people. Because they are related, there are a lot of similarities, but wolves represent one end of the spectrum and domestic dogs the other.\n\nWolves are generally bigger and considerably more intelligent than dogs. They are certainly more aware of their environment than dogs, and respond to other animals and humans differently. Wolves don't bond with humans readily the way dogs will. Wolves have a complex pack structure that dogs don't, even when they go feral and pack up. Wolves are constantly testing each other's dominance, while dogs generally accept whatever established hierarchy they live in.\n\nWolves are active and able hunters, while many dog breeds have lost that talent. Wolves are stronger than dogs. Wolves pace, dogs trot. Dogs can be trained, wolves can't (with possible rare exceptions on both sides). In a wolf pack, only the alphas lift their legs to pee (even the alpha female will do this, though not necessarily all the time), and other pack members squat. The alphas will also prevent any other pack members from breeding, and when the pups are born, the whole pack helps raise them. Wolves mate for life (except rare occasions), dogs do not. Dogs go into heat twice a year, wolves only once a year.\n\nWolves are different from dogs by their skull's characteristics, especially the orbital angle, which is the angle between the top of the skull and the side of the skull at the eye socket. This angle is larger (53 degrees or more) in dogs and smaller (45 degrees or less) in wolves. Wolves also have a third larger brain than dogs. Dogs' teeth are smaller, their muzzle is shorter and broader, and their foreheads are broader. Dog's ears are generally more pointed and longer, while wolves' are shorter, wider, and more rounded. Wolves' feet are much larger and more splayed than dogs'. Wolves have a narrower chest and longer, thinner legs. Dogs lack the scent glands, called precaudal glands, underneath the base of the tail.\n\nFor even the most wolf-like dogs, there is a distinct difference in coloration. The colors are much more contrasted and not well-blended on the dog, whereas the wolf's coloration is not contrasted as much and well blended to produce many shades and colors.\n\nWolves are fascinating creatures but they aren't just big dogs. While they are the same genus as dogs (canis) they are a different species: the wolf is canis lupus, the dog is canis familiaris.\nhttp://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/39319\nhttp://www.lioncrusher.com/animal.asp?animal=35&page=4
135078
Its part of the CANINE family; dogs, foxes and wolves all belong here.
836733
There's a lot of dog's breed. The dog's scientific name is based on the pedigree.\n\n\n**LABRADOR Retriever**\na breed of domestic dog. (We have one named Comet.) \nScientific classification \nDomain: Eukaryota\nKingdom: Animalia\nPhylum: Chordata\nSubphylum: Vertebrata\nClass: Mammalia\nOrder: Carnivora\nFamily: Canidae\nGenus: Canis\nSpecies: C. lupus\nSubspecies: C. l. familiaris\n\nTrinomial name \nCanis lupus familiaris\n \nThe dog is a mammal in the order Carnivora. Dogs were domesticated from wolves as recently as 15,000 years, ago[1] or perhaps as early as 100,000 years ago based upon recent genetic fossil and DNA evidence[2][3]. New evidence suggests that dogs were first domesticated in East Asia, possibly China[4], and the first peoples to enter North America took dogs with them from Asia. Genetic research has identified 14 ancient dog breeds, with the oldest being the Chow Chow, Shar Pei, Akita Inu, Shiba Inu and Basenji. Because many of the 14 breeds are associated with China and Japan, the theory that the dog originated in Asia seems to be likely.[4] Over time, the dog has developed into hundreds of breeds with a great degree of variation. For example, heights at the withers range from just a few inches (such as the Chihuahua) to roughly three feet (such as the Irish Wolfhound), and colors range from white to black, with reds, grays (usually called blue), and browns occurring in a tremendous variation of patterns.\n\nfor your reference on the  breeding\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dog_breeds
715451
Maybe you can understand it if I put it this way as an EXAMPLE  Pure bred dogs and cats all look alike right, Mutts come in many mutations. Not saying anyone is a animal or one is better than another just the difference in DNA variations.
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*Roaming in* For a world map of wolves use http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geupg6B31EVlMBarJXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE3ZnJqNzk4BGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDc3IEdnRpZANGNzQ4XzE1Nw--/SIG=11hccoq1k/EXP=1149130938/**http%3a//www.kidsplanet.org/www\n\nFor North America wolf populations try http://www.defenders.org/pubs/pfw03.html\n\nSome state maps can be found at http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/search?p=map+of+wolf+population&ei=UTF-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&fr=moz3\n\nWolf weight and size can vary greatly worldwide, though both tend to increase proportionally with higher latitudes. Generally speaking, height varies from 0.6 to 0.9 meters (24 to 35 inches) at the shoulder, and weight can range anywhere from 25 to 65 kg (55-143 pounds), making wolves the largest among all wild canids. Although rarely encountered, extreme specimens reaching 80 kg (176 lb.) have been recorded in Alaska and Canada, though some people claim to have seen even larger anomalous individuals (90+ kg) roaming the Yukon, where some of the largest wolves in North America can be found. Customarily, however, wolves will be of a more typical physical capacity, with the females in a given population weighing about twenty percent less than their male counterparts. Wolves can measure anywhere between 1.3 and 2 meters (51 to 78 inches) from nose to tail tip, with the tail itself consisting of approximately one quarter of overall body length. \n\nWolves in the wild live between 6-9 years, but in captivity can live up to 18 years.\n\nSome great wolf fact sites include\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf\nhttp://www.wolf.org/wolves/learn/basic/faq.asp\nhttp://www.wolfweb.com/facts.html\nhttp://www.alaska.net/~wolfsong/wolf_facts.html
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Is this a serious question?  Did it ever occur to you that the biology of a dog is just a wee bit different than that of a human?
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nope... they have a difference level of chromosomes,\n\n\nthey more than liekly could try.. but the results would be more than likely dead and birth from physical problems such as no lungs, or no heart etc..\n\ndifferent animals have maanged to mate ouside thier chromosome levels, such as the donkey and horse, and the lion and tigers (Ligers).. normally these animals do not last a full age and have birth defects.
17910
Because species are defined by the ability to interbreed and produce viable progeny that can still breed.  A horse and a donkey can mate to give a mule, but the resulting mule is sterile.\n\nA better question is why dogs and wolves have different names scientifically.
813478
There is no magic number.\n\nIt is not a matter of genetic distance as much as it is number of chromosomes, and other pre- and post-zygotic barriers.\n\nGiven that we are all very genetically close (by the numbers at least) it will be interesting to see what the future brings in the way of hybridization of animals (plants have already been messed with A TON).
978245
What? No no, wolves are pack animals headed by a matriarch.  If another female wolf in the pack has a pup, the pups may be killed by the matriarch because only the matriarch is "allowed" to have pups.  Sometimes/often the case is that the matriarch adopts the pups into the pack.  \n\nThe nature of racism really isn't understood in humans, but we do know that the brain likes to simplify things to expedite decision making.  You can see a general description of this in Gladwell's "Blink."  We also know that all living things that operate in cooperative networks will tend to support family over outsiders, and family is recognized by their physical traits.  This is why we have nepotism. \n\nSee "Natural Selection and Social Theory" by Trivers.
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YES\n\nThe Tasmanian Wolf is believed to have been extinct for nearly sixty-five years. Despite its appearance and its popular name, this animal was not in fact a species of wolf, nor was it a dog, which it also resembled. It was actually a marsupial -- the largest carnivorous marsupial in recent times -- and was closely related to the kangaroo and the wombat. (Its pouch is not visible in this mount.) Thus the Tasmanian Wolf's Latin name, Thylacinus cynocephalus, meaning "pouched dog with wolf head," reflects the animal's true nature as well as its similarity to the dog and the wolf. \nThe Tasmanian Wolf's resemblance to unrelated species is a result of what scientists call convergent evolution, in which similar features develop separately in different species. The Tasmanian Wolf evolved into a form comparable to members of the dog family because it filled much the same ecological niche in Australia as true dogs do in their environments. \n\nThe extinction of the Tasmanian Wolf is attributable solely to activities of human beings. In the nineteenth century, when Tasmania encouraged agriculture, the Tasmanian Wolf was considered a threat to livestock, and bounty hunters were paid twenty-five cents per scalp as part of a concerted, and successful, effort to eliminate the animal. It was soon hunted to extinction. Today, in the hopes that the Tasmanian Wolf is not truly extinct, the Australian Conservation Foundation offers $100 just for a sighting of the animal's tracks. So far, there has been none.
831827
Foxes are much smaller than wolves and have a personality that's not very dog-like. Foxes are almost catlike in some of their emotions and sounds. Wolves are a lot like german shepherds, although not tame they are not normally aggressive with people. Foxes react to people by avoiding them when they are able. Sometimes a fox or coyote or wolf that is wild will become curious about people who live near them.\n\nI know nothing about arctic foxes, sorry.
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First, I assume you know when you say "a dog into a cat" that evolution is not about an individual (a specific dog) changing ... it's *always* about an entire population of *many* individuals changing over many generations.\n\nSecond, remember the definition of 'species'.  Two individuals are considered members of the same species if they are genetically compatible enough to interbreed.   So dogs could, through natural selection, change to become more "cat-like" ... but it would be impossible for dogs ever to be able to interbreed with cats (their chromosomes are just too incompatible).\n\nThird, natural selection never moves in the same exact direction twice.  Dogs are the result of (1) certain genetic accidents and (2) certain environments in the history of evolution.  Cats are the result of *different* genetic accidents, in *different* environments.  Even if dogs today were subjected to millions of years of exactly the same environments that caused cats ... it is still impossible that the dogs would recreate the same genetic accidents.  And furthermore, dogs would have to *lose* a lot of their "dog chromosomes" to become genetically compatible with cats.\n\nIn summary, natural selection can cause a single species to split into two (go from being genetically compatible to genetically incompatible for breeding).  But it can never cause members of two separate species (i.e. genetically incompatible for breeding) to become one species (i.e. capable of interbreeding).
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Hunting\nBeagle Traits\nBeagles are from England and were bred to hunt rabbits in a pack formation. They like to be with a "pack," whether that pack is a human family or other dogs. They are intelligent and quick to learn, but can be stubborn. Being rabbit dogs, they do dig. Beagles can be howlers or barkers. Pack dogs like to communicate and these are the ways dogs communicate. Beagles are very lovable, curious dogs who are known to love children
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Because we all came from the common ancestor.  It’s like wolves and dogs.  Dogs evolved from wolves, but we still have wolves.  Not everything has to evolve into the same thing (or at the same rate).  So wolves in one place in the world can evolve close to where they’ve been for millions of years, and wolves with human interaction can evolve into the mutts we have in the house.\n\nPS Mmmmm evolutionary sushi...
230403
dogs and cats have seperate blood groups, they actually are further evolved than humans because it is possible for ANY dog to give blood to a dog that has not previously been transfused and for the dog not to suffer any consequences
20444
Dogs are called 'man's best friend'!\nSee the encyclopedia article for more details:\nThe dog is a canine mammal of the Order Carnivora. Dogs were first domesticated from wolves at least 12,000 years ago[1] but perhaps as long as 150,000 years ago based on recent genetic fossil evidence and DNA evidence[2]. In this time, the dog has developed into hundreds of breeds with a great degree of variation. For example, heights at the withers range from just a few inches (such as the Chihuahua) to roughly three feet (such as the Irish Wolfhound), and colors range from white to black, with reds, grays (usually called blue), and browns occurring in a tremendous variation of patterns. Dogs, like humans, are highly social animals and pack hunters; this similarity in their overall behavioral design accounts for their trainability, playfulness, and ability to fit into human households and social situations. Dogs fill a variety of roles in human society and are often trained as working dogs. For dogs that do not have traditional jobs, a wide range of dog sports provide the opportunity to exhibit their natural skills. In many countries, the most common and perhaps most important role of dogs is as companions. Dogs have lived with and worked with humans in so many roles that their loyalty has earned them the sobriquet "man's best friend." Conversely, some cultures consider dogs to be unclean. In other cultures, some dogs are used as food.