Purpose of Cross Breeding?

[Lokiodi]

cross breeding of any animal is really only to the benefit of us humans and those who breed them at the end of the day:roll: When you look at nature in it's true form, you dont see the variety of monkey breeds breeding amongst each other or lions and tigers mating which says each species is genetically informed to which is the right partner/species for them

actually, you do - see jane gooddalls boosk for examples of baboons mating with chimps. This naturally occurs. You don't get offspring because they are too genetically removed. in captivity, lions and tigers dont always naturally distinguish who is the suitable mate, and Ligers and Tigons have been created, as well as many other hybrid big-cats. Stallions have also been known to cover cows in captivity. In the wild, elephants have been known to attempt matings with rhinos.

But, that is really nothing to do with this debate because in this case the animal concerned is just one species, the only reason we have ANY variation is because of human intervention. Humans created the crossbreeds. Nature created the wild agouti ***** eared rabbit, thats what all rabbits were before humans came along.

 

[honeybunny]

This has turned into an interesting thread!
I do think any breeder who is aware of the rescue situation has absolutely NO justification for creating crossbreeds..
like Jane I'm anti breeding but do accept there are good and bad breeders.

I just wondered if there was a valid reason for these babies having been produced:?..obviously not.....

 

[ZakuraRabbit]

cross breeding of any animal is really only to the benefit of us humans and those who breed them at the end of the day:roll: When you look at nature in it's true form, you dont see the variety of monkey breeds breeding amongst each other or lions and tigers mating which says each species is genetically informed to which is the right partner/species for them

I wouldn't call it quite the same Monkeys won't interbreed because they are different species, but all domestic rabbits originate from the same species. If you let loose a whole bunch of domestic breeds they won't care less what breed the mate is, they'll interbreed none the less, and probably end up looking like wild rabbits in the end Since that is how they originally looked. The breeds we have today showed up when people started breeding specifically for one special trait. Wild animals don't care about this, and so you won't get much variety in wildlife (also I suspect many of the domestic breeds in any species must have been inbred at some point to get the traits, that could be a reason why so many dog breeds have breed-specific diseases today) In many cases, a crossbreed might even be healthier, and more natural than inbreeding a bunch of rabbits to give them loped ears, tiny nethie-ears or rex-fur You don't see these traits in the wild because it's not practical.

The difference here is BREED vs SPECIES
Two different species can't interbreed, and if they do, the offspring are often sterile. This usually don't occur in the wild, although I do believe there are two species of fowl in Norway that actually interbreeds in the wild and produces sterile offspring, so the fact is; animals don't really care who they mate with (owners of un-neutered male rabbits should have noticed this:shock

A breed however are just different varieties within one species. Most of the time these are bred by humans, and originate from one certain wild species.

 

[Denny]

I was talking to my mother last night about this and she went on to tell me about mules and how they are sterile due to the way they mate:shock:so I eat my words:lol::lol::lol:

 

[Lea-Anne]

I don't agree with breeding at all but his thread has got me wondering why-

a mongrel dog is often genetically fitter than a pedigree - so why does this not go for rabbits?

Also are they ANY breeds of rabbit that don't have problems? :shock: I can't think of one...

 

[rspcarabbits]

There's an equation for this I think.

Nature X Man = problems.

Nature being the natural course of events worked out and approved over milliions of years since life on earth began.
Man being the very young inquisitive sorcerers apprentice.
and problems being literally "xxxx happens!"

Just curious, can anybody think where this equation does not hold true with anything so I can quote it in future, and more impressively can anybody think of an example that involves breeding and rabbits.

 

[ailz]

Many people shouldn't breed either - but unfortunately we can't stop that - it would be classed as unethical.

 

[cashmincal]

I'm not sure I want to breed myself as a human, not sure I want to carry myself on :lol:

 

[Denny]

Just curious, can anybody think where this equation does not hold true with anything so I can quote it in future, and more impressively can anybody think of an example that involves breeding and rabbits.

well we are told that us humans evolved from ape and that they are the closest relative to us (can understand that with the males as they dont really speak and sit around all day :lol::lol but as far as I am aware, we humans dont go on dates with our ancestors, marry them and have off spring so why is it not a natural instinct for us humans to mate with primates:? apart from veet becoming a well profitable company I assume it boils down to looks:lol::lol:

It would take alot of research really like do humped backed whales mate with killer whales, do jelly fish mate with anything other than their own species without killing them first or whether nature itself allows certain breeding amongst species to produce a better species:?

I hope I have understood your question rightas for rabbits I wouldn't even know where to start, depends what came first, the hare or the toitoise:lol::lol:

 

[ZakuraRabbit]

well we are told that us humans evolved from ape and that they are the closest relative to us (can understand that with the males as they dont really speak and sit around all day :lol::lol but as far as I am aware, we humans dont go on dates with our ancestors, marry them and have off spring so why is it not a natural instinct for us humans to mate with primates:? apart from veet becoming a well profitable company I assume it boils down to looks:lol::lol:

It would take alot of research really like do humped backed whales mate with killer whales, do jelly fish mate with anything other than their own species without killing them first or whether nature itself allows certain breeding amongst species to produce a better species:?

I hope I have understood your question rightas for rabbits I wouldn't even know where to start, depends what came first, the hare or the toitoise:lol::lol:

Crossbreeding species is not natural, crossbreeding BREEDS however I would think would be more natural than the selective breeding we do to both rabbits, cats and dogs. :lol: They are one species, but our intervention has created many different varieties of the species.

You can't compare breeding a Holland lop to a nethie to breeding a human to an ape (I don't think..or HOPE that is even possible:shock seeing as the nethie and the holland are both just varieties of the Orycolagus Cuniculus.

 

[Tamsin]

Yes, there is a big difference between cross breeding between species (zebra/donkeys, lions/tigers) and between varieties (lop and dutch). There are examples in the wild for example an albino deer breeding with a standard colour deer. It's just in the wild any animals that are different to the standard (evolved via survival of the fittest) don't survive long.

Tam

 

[cute_fuzzies]

I'm of the opinion that if cross breeding actually helps to improve the health of the animal, then that's great.

As somebody quite rightly said, crossbreed/mongrel dogs are often the healthiest - pure pedigree dogs are generally all descended from a small ancestral gene pool, thus increasing the chance of recessive genetic problems cropping up.

The crossing of the breeds can of course help stop this from happening - but likewise, the 'wrong' cross can cause all sorts of other problems to crop up too.

The ape/human analogy is not the same as crossing rabbit 'breeds' - however, perhaps Chinese human/Zambian human might be a better analogy? Same species - just morphologically different, and more prone to different genetic problems (i.e. Sickle cell disease in the case of many Africans in Malarial areas).

I am not sure that it is necessarily 'right' to try and keep a rabbit breed 'pure' if it simply adds to their genetic problems and end up being detrimental to the rabbits health.

I think what i'm trying to say is, if crossbreeding can help reduce/eliminate the problems that certain breeds are genetically predisposed to, then I have no problem with it.
However, if people are simply crossing breeds in order to make something 'pretty', with no thought to health and genetics, then I disagree.

 

[Lea-Anne]

I think what i'm trying to say is, if crossbreeding can help reduce/eliminate the problems that certain breeds are genetically predisposed to, then I have no problem with it.
However, if people are simply crossing breeds in order to make something 'pretty', with no thought to health and genetics, then I disagree.

Absolutely Surely with pedigrees the gene pool gets smaller and smaller so they are less genetically fit animals anyway?

I do not condon breeding at all but TBH don't understand how breeders can use the reason for breeding is their animals are "fitter" when we still have lops predisposed to dental problems or rexes prone to sore hocks?! Surely if fitter animals were being bred all the time these traits would've been bred out by now no? :?

 

[XMissySJx]

Yes, there is a big difference between cross breeding between species (zebra/donkeys, lions/tigers) and between varieties (lop and dutch). There are examples in the wild for example an albino deer breeding with a standard colour deer. It's just in the wild any animals that are different to the standard (evolved via survival of the fittest) don't survive long.

Tam

i kno its nothing 2 do with this thread but tamsin reminded me! my zoo have zeedonks! theybe been there over 15 years now, so weird looking:?

 

[Denny]

so do snakes breed with different breeds of snakes?

 

[Tamsin]

so do snakes breed with different breeds of snakes?

In the wild or captivity? Yes, there are hybrids in captivity.

Here's an example of hybrid in the wild: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/polar-bears.html (warning photo of dead bear)

Tam

 

[cute_fuzzies]

so do snakes breed with different breeds of snakes?

I guess it depends on what you mean by that - whether you mean 'breed' or 'species'?

In captivity, you do get different 'breeds' (or 'morphs' as they are known) of certain species of snake. For example, Royal Pythons come in all sorts of different morphs - Piebald, Spider, Bumblebee, Granite, Cinnamon... like domestic Rabbits come in French Lop, Netherland Dwarf, etc.

The breeders will cross these different 'morphs' together - but they are still the same species, and are basically the same species which has been selectively bred for different colours. So essentially the same as breeding perhaps a dutch and a mini lop. Or probably more like breeding a white dwarf lop to a black dwarf lop (because in terms of size and form, the different royal python 'morphs' are practically the same - it's just colour that varies most).

There are also some folk who also breed different species of snake to produce hybrids - though sometimes people accidentally breed subspecies together, which tend to produce viable offspring because genetically they are not all that different.

However, if you ar talking about snakes in the wild without human intervention - then breeding between species is likely to be very rare, as it is amongst most wild animals.