I read something earlier today regarding genetic differences in wild vs. tame animals.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...dvstameanimals
While that isn't necessarily big news, I'd like some assistance by those familiar with animal families, genuses, and such. From what I've understood, there are two sub-families of the Felidae family, Pantherinae and Felinae. The long and the short of the distinction was that those in Pantherinae could roar, and those in Felinae could not (due to structural differences in the throat). The thing I found cool about this, was that domestic cats belonged in the same class as cheetahs, lynx, and the like, and were only a minor physical deviation from lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars. There wasn't a major genetic difference, just that of physical size.
So, with this new finding, would that put domestic (tame) cats in a new family, under sub-order Feliformia? I don't know how I would break it to Bayliss that he's not this close ---> [] to being a mighty panther!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...dvstameanimals
While that isn't necessarily big news, I'd like some assistance by those familiar with animal families, genuses, and such. From what I've understood, there are two sub-families of the Felidae family, Pantherinae and Felinae. The long and the short of the distinction was that those in Pantherinae could roar, and those in Felinae could not (due to structural differences in the throat). The thing I found cool about this, was that domestic cats belonged in the same class as cheetahs, lynx, and the like, and were only a minor physical deviation from lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars. There wasn't a major genetic difference, just that of physical size.
So, with this new finding, would that put domestic (tame) cats in a new family, under sub-order Feliformia? I don't know how I would break it to Bayliss that he's not this close ---> [] to being a mighty panther!