I can't look at a Chihuahua and say, yap that is progress. Although it probably made them a lot more adaptable, I still don't like them.
You just can't compare a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog to a chihuahua and say, yap that rat dog thing is progress.
That's what I mean. It's evolution, but it isn't necessarily "progress". It just works for Chihuahuas for now, because they are human symbionts, and as such, are more likely to be found in human habitats than big ol' wolfdogs (though there is one in my neighbourhood, lovely fellow.)
But take away the humans, and chihuahuas will have to compete with actual rats in order to survive, and will probably lose.
You also have mental evolution, but that's pretty much invisible unless you see the behavioural changes happening (see the difference between urban and rural raccoons.)
Yep, they were huge where I'm from (city used to have a rat problem, before the skunks moved in; at which time the city decided it was best to just live-trap and rabies-shot the skunks and let them handle the rats. They're territorial, so would keep out unvaxxed rural skunks.)
And rats are smarter than chihuahuas. Hell, I'm not entirely sure that NYC rats haven't figured out how to use electrical fires for to herd humans. It would be interesting to see if rat-caused fires don't happen more often in places with lots of food. But then, you'd expect rats to be where the food is, so. The point is, it's a way to clear out the humans while they collect what they can. Kind of like hunter-gatherer humans setting fires to the woods to flush out whatever they can catch.
The cognitive dissonance of dog mommies is staggering. They can clearly see the heritability of behaviors, physical characteristics, and IQ, all in a carefully controlled long term experiment we call dog breeding. And yet these people refuse to acknowledge any such dynamic in human evolution.
I can't look at a Chihuahua and say, yap that is progress. Although it probably made them a lot more adaptable, I still don't like them. You just can't compare a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog to a chihuahua and say, yap that rat dog thing is progress.
That's what I mean. It's evolution, but it isn't necessarily "progress". It just works for Chihuahuas for now, because they are human symbionts, and as such, are more likely to be found in human habitats than big ol' wolfdogs (though there is one in my neighbourhood, lovely fellow.)
But take away the humans, and chihuahuas will have to compete with actual rats in order to survive, and will probably lose.
You also have mental evolution, but that's pretty much invisible unless you see the behavioural changes happening (see the difference between urban and rural raccoons.)
City rats are huge and vicious. They would eat those chihuahuas as snacks
Yep, they were huge where I'm from (city used to have a rat problem, before the skunks moved in; at which time the city decided it was best to just live-trap and rabies-shot the skunks and let them handle the rats. They're territorial, so would keep out unvaxxed rural skunks.)
And rats are smarter than chihuahuas. Hell, I'm not entirely sure that NYC rats haven't figured out how to use electrical fires for to herd humans. It would be interesting to see if rat-caused fires don't happen more often in places with lots of food. But then, you'd expect rats to be where the food is, so. The point is, it's a way to clear out the humans while they collect what they can. Kind of like hunter-gatherer humans setting fires to the woods to flush out whatever they can catch.
That was a great idea. Props for the city for doing that. Most would just throw money at it with no change.
The cognitive dissonance of dog mommies is staggering. They can clearly see the heritability of behaviors, physical characteristics, and IQ, all in a carefully controlled long term experiment we call dog breeding. And yet these people refuse to acknowledge any such dynamic in human evolution.