So many Species?

[donfenk]

Here is a question that has had me wondering for some time:


Lake Malawi - 1000's of different speicies of cichlids- some so close you cant tell them apart. also able to breed between speicies (i always thought that different species could not successfuly breed).

Then you have Dogs (mans best friend) Every dog is of the same species - a Chihuahua and a Great Dane are considered the same species.


What gives?

[jm1212]

all fo those species have evolved seperatley.

dogs are bred to express traits like height or color or length of fur

[JoeQuality]

hehe I've always thought the same thing between dogs and cats...

You have hundreds of dometic dog varieties, ranging in size, color, hair etc. But with the domestic cat you get the same shape and size more or less. Why hasnt man bred cats the same way with dogs? How come we dont see huge, Great Dane-sized cats or long, thin wiener dog-cats?

(Sorry for going off-topic)

Blood parrots... bred for the weird shape? (ugly IMO)