Animal species and breeds?

Question

Could someone please explain to me why lions and tigers etc are a different species of animal to a domestic cat ,yet a German shepherd dog is the same species as a poodle etc ?
Thank you
x

Answer 1

It might be because they can interbreed ... you can cross a German Shepherd with a Poodle & you will have live, viable, probably quite cute puppies. Shepadoodles. Plus the resulting offspring will themselves be fertile & able to have pups of their own.

However, even if it were physically possible (no don't have that mental picture!!), there would probably be no live kittens/cubs from a mating between a lion or tiger & a domesticated cat. And even if there were, the chances are that the offspring would be sterile.

It's why the Bengals (etc) have been such a phenomen - successful crosses between wild cats & domesticated.

The only big cat crosses that I've heard of are Ligers or Tigons - Lion/Tiger.

Though you can own your own domesticated tiger now ... breeders are working to produce a more cuddly form of Tiger - the Toyger:
http://www.toygers.org/

Answer 2

Domestic Canines generally ALL come from the same gene pool known as Wolves. Although there are a few divergent species (you cannot successfully cross a fox with a wolf)
a canine is a canine is a canine.

So yes, a German Shepherd is the same species as a poodle, the difference is selective breeding by humans.

BTW all dogs are canines, however not all canines are dogs. The term "dog" is specific to the domestic variety.

Cats, on the other hand, have always been separate genetically. For example a bobcat does not have the same gene makeup as the domestic cat or the lynx or the lion.
A tiger may mate with a lion but the outcome is not particularly viable nor desirable for the preservation of the separate species.
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Answer 3

sure and no. Animals are seen to be the comparable species in the event that they'd have fertile offspring. Having seen the 1st answer, i understand he's erroneous. Tigers (panthera tigris) and lions (panthera leo) can certainly breed as they do have sufficient comparable chromosomes. whether, they at the instant are not seen the comparable species becuse Ligers can not produce offspring, they are infertile. this is the comparable tale with Horses and Donkeys. they'd produce Mules, whether, Mules themselves can not produce offspring, so horses and Donkeys at the instant are not seen the comparable species. dogs and wolves CAN breed at the same time, simply by fact they have sufficient comparable chromosomes to offer fertile offspring. subsequently wolves have had their latin call replaced from canis lupis to canis canis (canis canis is the latin call for a 'domesticated dogs'.) In answer on your question on a broader observe; in case you took the sperm from a sqirrel as an occasion, and tried to fertilise utilising in vitro fertilisation (in a petri dish), an egg from a Grizzly undergo, it does not artwork, simply by fact they dlo not have sufficient comparable chromosomes to mathc up and make a baby in any respect.

Answer 4

I feel basically you`ve answered your own question here. As in domestic cat being domestic and bred solely for that use,and have been for thousands of years, an example being that of the worship of cats and cat type gods by early egyptians etc. but the "big" cats have obviously been left to their own devices, left to roam the wilds and consequently due to evolution have adapted to their envionment and stayed as hunters foraging for the next kill to survive.

Answer 5

nope,,