From wheat farmers to dog breeders, humans have been performing genetic engineering for centuries. I use the genetic engineering loosely but the results remain the same. Humans have been assisting biological systems with their evolutionary process by way of “human selection” rather than “natural selection“.
For example, dog breeders have been exploring the genetic diversity by shaping the way canines look and behave. Another way to look at it is that breeders have been meddling in doggy evolution. So, what is the result of centuries of genetic manipulation? Is it a new canine? Is it a new species?
The below article examines how human intervention has sculpted the dogs’ brains.
Below is what Science News for Students writes in their Breeding has given different dogs distinct brain shapes article:
“The new findings appeared September 2 in the Journal of Neuroscience. A team of researchers scanned the brains of 62 purebred dogs representing 33 breeds. They used MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, to map the shapes of brain structures. Their results show that dog brains are not all alike. The shapes of various brain regions can differ broadly by the breed. The research may guide future studies on how brain structure relates to behavior. “
Let this sink in a moment. After centuries of genetic manipulation to genetically modify dogs; after centuries of “directional selection”; after centuries of exploring the genetic variability of dogs; after centuries of purposeful “natural selection” and chance; after all this and more, the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the University of Georgia at Athens found some parts of the brain varied more than others.
Specifically, smell and taste regions were different. This explains how dogs have different specialized behaviors such as hunting by smell, guarding and providing companionship.
While humans have not had the biotechnology we have today. From dogs to wheat, genetic manipulation by breeding or grafting has been performed by humans for thousands of years. Humans have explored a multitude of species’ genetic diversity without creating a new species.
Is Evolution A theory? Certainly adaptation is valid but evolution theory is not about adaptation; rather it is about new species. And in all of the centuries of breeding and genetically manipulating dogs, humans have not created a new creature.
Is Evolution A Theory? If purposed genetic manipulation cannot create a new species, how can evolution science claim that nature left to itself by way of natural selection can perform the creation feat of creating a new species?