[gurps] BioTech-- Eugenics Question

[Susan Koziel]

--- Wyrm <wyrm.ksc at gmail.com> wrote:

> Jeff Murrell wrote:
> > 
> > Susan Koziel wrote:
> >> There are indications with animal breeds that the
> same
> >> effect occurs - that each species has a max level
> >> within it's genome for certain things like size,
> IQ,
> >> speed, etc. Much of these maximums have to do
> which
> >> the sheer physical nature of our parts.
> 
> Over the last 15,000 or so years we have pretty much
> twisted out every 
> every variation of Wolf -> Dog you can imagine. :)
> 

Pretty much - the scarey thing about canines and
genetics tho is that for all the variations you see
that are obviously genetic (ie:pomeranian vs mastiff)
geneticists still have huge problems actually
genetically telling one breed from another (my
understanding is they are a very homogeneous
genetically).

> > 
> > Thoroughbred horses are an example of this. 
> Historically the average times
> > of all race horses has been increasing but the
> record times have not
> > increased significantly.
> > 
> > In the Ky. Derby for example Secretariat's 1973
> record of 1:59 2/5 still
> > stands.  The previous record was Northern Dancer's
> 1964 time of 2:00. The
> > record in 1900 was 2:06 1/4. So in over 100 years
> (c.20+ generations)
> > maximum speed has increased by 5.7%.
> 
> How much of this can be attributed to better feed,
> vet care and training 
> though? 20 generations is not all that long.
>
Not sure - but it certainly points out that you can
max out a genetic trait after a while if you don't
bring in outside source material. It may also be an
example of what happens when you shrink the gene pool
of a speices. When we breed for traits in domestic
animals we do effectively shrink the pool of genes we
are working from. I wonder if any of the horse
breeders have looked at crossing any of the lines of
race horses and draft horses? Maybe all the lines
built for speed need to out cross to increase hybrid
vigor.... rather then continuously breeding the
winners of races.
;)
-Sue