1: No difference, actually.
2: All cattle that can successfully interbreed are the same species, as well. Breeding different kinds of beef critter does not lead to new species in short time spans.
3: I have no such doubts. Stoning people to death for not following objectively silly laws would *not* make the world better.
People were not stoned to death for FOLLOWING the laws. And I hardly think that laws against murder, rape, and kidnapping are silly.
Perhaps you think that stoning somebody to death for sodomy, bestiality, or adultery is silly. If so, just remember that God doesn't hand down the death penalty for nothing. Obviously, He thought that there was something seriously wrong about those acts.
Aren't all animals in the process of evolving? Shouldn't each animal be its own species? The notion of species, nature or essence seems very (gasp) medieval to me...
This was a punishment for rape.
Now, about your daughter..................