Cross Breeds

Are the Races of humans similar to classifying the breeds of dogs?

OK, so people are classified into races ... based on physical traits. Dogs are classified into different breeds based on their physical traits too. Is it the same kind of genetic concept ?

Public Comments

1. that is how I always looked at it! ok since i got a little curious, i've always asked that question to myself...I looked it up and read in wikepedia that in biology, subspecies, race and breed are equivalent terms. Breed is usually applied to domestic animals; species and subspecies, to wild animals and to plants; and race, to humans. So there is our answer! and i dont think that is a racist question at all!
2. good question, im not in the least bit qualified to answer but i believe so, because dogs can reproduce with different breeds. So its the same species but a different "ethnicity" or breed or race.
3. yeah most of us are mutts
4. Thats Racist but: The term race or racial group usually refers to the categorization of humans into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of heritable characteristics. The most widely used human racial categories are based on salient traits (especially skin color, cranial or facial features and hair texture), and self-identification. Conceptions of race, as well as specific ways of grouping races, vary by culture and over time, and are often controversial for scientific as well as social and political reasons. The controversy ultimately revolves around whether or not the concept of race is biologically warranted; the ways in which political correctness might fuel either the affirmation or the denial of race; and the degree to which perceived differences in ability and achievement, categorized on the basis of race, are a product of inherited (i.e., genetic) traits or environmental, social and cultural factors. Some argue that although race is a valid taxonomic concept in other species, it cannot be applied to humans Many scientists have argued that race definitions are imprecise, arbitrary, derived from custom, have many exceptions, have many gradations, and that the numbers of races delineated vary according to the culture making the racial distinctions; thus they reject the notion that any definition of race pertaining to humans can have taxonomic rigour and validity.Today many scientists study human genotypic and phenotypic variation using concepts such as "population" and "clinal gradation". Many contend that while racial categorizations may be marked by phenotypic or genotypic traits, the idea of race itself, and actual divisions of persons into races or racial groups, are social constructs. However, the concept of race may be useful in forensic anthropology. According to forensic anthropologist George W. Gill, "race denial" not only contradicts biological evidence, but may stem from "politically motivated censorship" in the belief that "race promotes racism". There is a Term that differ The races, its called something like "DISCRIMINATION", that is seriously a Rasist question to ask in my opinion, no offence
5. I would say no because different breeds of dogs are extremely different. where as different races of humans really only have skin/eyes color and hair color/texture and a few other superficial differences. There are no two races of humans that are as different as a chuwawaa and a bull master.
6. Interesting analogy, somewhat valid but human races are much more closely related then breeds of dogs, and humans have different racial characteristics mostly due to climate adaptation and selective breeding which they chose themselves whereas dogs where selectively breed into different breeds to accommodate the needs of the humans who own and take care of them, its similar but a little different.
7. No really. Genetically, none of us are all that different. In fact every human on the planet today stems from one woman who lived 160,000 years ago. DNA proves it.
8. No. People are classified into races by people who don't know what they're talking about. http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm We created the different breeds of dogs through artificial selection. That's not at all how humans in different areas came to look different from each other.
9. Dogs have been selected by humans for these traits. They have undergone controlled breeding and these breeds have standards which are regulated by bodies like the American Kennel Club (US) and the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (most other countries). Other than Hitler's Lebensborn, I am not acquainted with a similar effort for humans.
10. First most people define "race" as "skin color.". Second the cultural practice of hyper descent assigns mixed race offspring to the minority (or discriminated against) race. That's the reason President Obama, who is half white, is called our first "Black" president. Last, race among humans is purely a social construct: "One of the important implications of Jablonski and Chaplin's work is that it underlines the concept of race as purely a social construct, with no scientific grounds. DNA research has shown that genetically all humans, regardless of skin color and other surface distinctions, are basically the same. In an April 2001 article titled, "The Genetic Archaeology of Race," published in the Atlantic Monthly, Steve Olson writes "the genetic variants affecting skin color and facial features are essentially meaningless —they probably involve a few hundred of the billions of nucleotides in a person's DNA. Yet societies have built elaborate systems of privilege and control on these insignificant genetic differences." http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/02... The American Kennel Club sets the standard for each breed of dogs. Size, weight, body conformation, color and so on. Animals that don't measure up are not allowed. This form of classification for humans was tried a while ago.Nazi Germany had quite a "scientifc" method to determine people's race and set the standards for the supposedly "pure" Aryan race. It didn't work.
11. Pretty much. I asked a biologist about race once and she said it was similar to breeds in dogs. Same species, but definably different although very closely related.
12. kind of but we have even less genetic variation than dogs
13. No, not at all. There are no "breeds" of humans, and there are no distinct groups of humans that are analogous to dog breeds. Dog breeds are distinct groups, while humans are not. that is, while a person from Tanzania might look very different from someone from Sweden or someone from Japan, there is a continuous flow of humans between these different areas, and there are gradations of change, so that there is no distinct separation.