Genetic Diversity Thread

We come to learn how to farm our animals now, but is this drying up the gene pool? In the future, will our farm animals be more exposed to disease? We now need a greater amount of animals to feed the people, and drying up the gene pool is not helping.

We should be taking action now!

First off genetic enginering would improve animals health - there would be numerous changes to there immune system through engineering to ensure they are a better 'product'.

How are we drying up the gene pool exactly?? Simply put if some wacko in a lab wants to create a new animal in say 15years it would probably be possible. For example a company is working on breeding sheep with spiders to create a twine that is 100 X more stronger than anything in exsistance - spidersheep anyone?

As for mass feeding and cloning to help - more than likely. However USA in particular makes enough surplus to feed its own country. The UK on the other hand doesnt make a surplus on its meat and crop - thus cloning would probably be used lightly in the future. If you was refering to Ethopians and such : I doubt they can afford the technology, and I cant see the west having another loan for them.

It's funny how few people connect this issue of genetic diversity to the human race as well.

Indeed, but its the very nature of humans to make things revolve around themselves.

don't ask me what i was on when i posted this...

anyway, farmers only get the best animals to breed, and thus the genetic diversity is limited to those animals. thats what i was getting at...

the best animals would have the best genes then, aswell

so wheres the problem

Where's the problem? Well they are pushing and selecting which animals do and don't reproduce. So while one cow may produce some creamy milk, it maybe prone to some critical diease another 'rejected' cow was not. Hence in the future this may indeed pose a massive problem

How are we drying up the gene pool exactly?? Simply put if some wacko in a lab wants to create a new animal in say 15years it would probably be possible. For example a company is working on breeding sheep with spiders to create a twine that is 100 X more stronger than anything in exsistance - spidersheep anyone?

Damn, would not wanna get bitten by one of those sheep, would wind up like spiderman

lol ye, but think of the benefits...they could make a new material (twine/cotton to such an intense degree) that has never ever existed but splicing a few genes

did you guys hear about the spider they genetically joined with a goat?

how stupid is that? a silk/milk-making animal

thats what I was on about !

"The best animal has the best genes"

That's not how it works.
The concept behind genetic diversity is that there is enough mutation and variance to allow for extreeme adaptation (of course, lowering genetic diversity to an extreeme make for extreeme mutation when it occures, but that's not th point I'm making). If you start selectively breeding an animal, it ceases to be what it once was and often becomes over dependant on what it now is.

Being a bit of a humanitarian, I think this is horrid when coupled with the fact that 90% of these animals don't exactly get what I'd call a happy life.

Oh, and "Only the farmers get the best animals to breed with" sounds just a littttttttle sus.
lol