How many species inhabit the planet?

Yahoo!News ^ | March 17, 2006 | Ed Stoddard

[Thatcherite]

Are you absolutely certain that you haven't denied speciation? I will check your posting history if you say you are certain.

[HOTTIEBOY]

I read a satirical piece on Santa Claus and the physics that would have to be in place in order for him to be able to visit and bring presents to every boy and girl in the world in one night.

Funny story. They calculated his sleigh at having to move at 99% the speed of light.(6 trillion miles per hour)and the g forces that would totally vaporize his body. The sleigh would have to carry something like 400 billion tons of cargo.

I applied this same ideology to Noah but its way too late in the day for that.

[mlc9852]

I have only said a dog hasn't produced a cat or something similar. Of course plants/animals change and adapt. That is how God made them, right? Natural selection and all that.

[HOTTIEBOY]

You too.

Happy Pattys Day

[Thatcherite]

I know that AiG accepts speciation. Have you modified your stance?

[Thatcherite]

OK, I'll go check your posting record. Could take a while...

BTW dogs producing cats (or any such large change in a generation) is a creationist canard. If it were to happen it would be in direct violation of anything that Darwin suggested or that biologists believe. But of course you already know that.

[mlc9852]

Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

[bert]

When enumerating species it is wise to remember that the pay of biologists it tied to their work and reputation. If they write a lot and discover or declare new species, their salary and career are enhanced.

There are lumpers who tend to put similar but slightly variable individuals in the same species wheres as splitters declare a different species for the most minimal difference. Given the disparity between splitters and lumpers and the disagreements between splitters it is impossible to determine a finite number of species.

[mlc9852]

What bothers me is that after searching and searching I have yet to discover who gets to decide if something is a new species and who gets to name them. Any ideas?

[Citizen Tom Paine]

Earth should be called the planet of the Bacteria.

[mlc9852]

But I'm so used to calling it Earth...

[Ken H]

What bothers me is that after searching and searching I have yet to discover who gets to decide if something is a new species and who gets to name them. Any ideas?

The answer is in Genesis!

2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

[mcar]

With alternate life forms like the Hildabeest, Helen T, and the swimmer in his "whale" pose, I bet you won't have to wait long for a pic...

[stbdside]

That is cool!!!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

With alternate life forms like the Hildabeest, Helen T, and the swimmer in his "whale" pose, I bet you won't have to wait long for a pic...

It has always been my contention that there are multiple sub-species of human.

Helen Thomas and Selma Hayak are NOT of the same species.
Ted Kennedy and Tom Selleck are NOT of the same species.

[TRY ONE]

"a species is a class of plants or animals whose members have the same main characteristics and are able to breed with each other."

Whoops...."able to breed with each other" GAYS AIN'T A SPECIES THEN!!!!!!

[Mogollon]

It was my understanding from reading Genesis that God sent the animals to Noah.

Yep. Things that are impossible for man are possible for God. How He performs miracles is never fully described..He fed 5000 with a loaf of bread and 2 fishes. DNA for 10 million +/- species will fit in a teaspoon.

[Mike Darancette]

According to the Collins English Dictionary, a species is "a class of plants or animals whose members have the same main characteristics and are able to breed with each other."

Wolves and dogs are the same species?

[SauronOfMordor]

Wolves and dogs are the same species?

Essentially they are, by the definition of species. That doesn't discount that wolves and dogs are recognisably different breeds/races.

Heck, even within the dog category we got Great Danes and Pekenese (a brief pause for trying to figure out how a Pekenese could actually impregnate a Great Dane)

[SauronOfMordor]

Doing a little research, I notice that dogs and coyotes can also viably interbreed, as can dogs and jackels.

All these different breeds of Canis, although genetically the same species, have distinct appearance, temperament, intelligence levels, and innate behavior characteristics.