Quote:
Originally Posted by roo
wolfdogs16,
I'm afraid I will have to disagree with one portion of your definition of "hybrid".
I may need to go back and crack open my 8th-grade biology textbook, but I'm pretty sure that the ability to reproduce (fertile/infertile) is not one of the defining characterisitics of the classic term "hybrid". I know that most people are familiar with one of the more common examples, horse + donkey = mule (sterile), but I beleive that this is just one example outcome and not necessarily the rule. Hybridization occurs all the time in nature, albeit plant, animal, natural, forced, or test-tube engineered. Most of the time the natural "cross-breeding" occurs as a result of population shift due to ecological changes.
I read your statement indicating that you use your efforts in education and support of the "breed", however I was confused as to which breed you were referring to. If you would elaborate, I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to get a better understanding of your particular situation.
Please feel free to contact me via private message, we can exchange email addresses, and I'd be more than happy to try and answer any of your questions about the Czechoslovakian Vlcak breed, its origin and 50+ year history, and my CSV experience in the United States. I would love to hear from you and am always eager and willing to share more about this very unique European breed!
Thanks,
Robert
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In prior definitions of the term "hybrid", fertile animals were part of the scenerio, but with the change in term to "hybrid = a mating of two difference species" infertile comes into play. This is all recent. have you seen the "liger"....(tiger/lion cross), even those species is the same, its infertile.... there are gray areas all over the term.. but its accepted that a hybrid is a cross between two species... and when the dog and wolf were determined to be the same species, USDA stated a cross between a wolf and dog is not a hybrid........... we ran with it. the term "hybrid" instills the "old fear" of the wolfdog cross.
well, "breed"..we both know the wolfdog in the U.S. is not a "breed".. but it just a term used to describe the animal sometimes..........no more no less. The "breed" is domestic by definition, but not in all states... we never expect the wolf dog cross to become a breed, there are too many variables in the blood lines, not only the wolves involved, but especially the dogs involved....