New species of leopard discovered

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...d-picture.html

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

On Oct 17, 4:11 am, Marina wrote:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...leopard-pictur...


Stunningly beautiful.

Marina wrote:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...d-picture.html

This looks familiar - I'm sure I've seen this picture before. What
a gorgeous animal. Although I notice that it has its tongue out in
the very same silly way that Licky sometimes does.

I don't understand this sentence, though, where this leopard is being
compared to the snow leopard:

"The differences aren't all in the genes, either - the two species
have different fur patterns and skin coloration."

Eh? Fur patterns and skin coloration *don't* get determined by genes?
(I'm being facetious here - I just think this sentence doesn't make
much sense.)

I never realized Borneo was so large, geographically. The Heart of
Borneo rain forest was said in the article to be about the same size
as the state of Kansas.

Joyce

On Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:35:31 +0000, jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt wrote:

Marina wrote:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...d-picture.html

This looks familiar - I'm sure I've seen this picture before. What
a gorgeous animal. Although I notice that it has its tongue out in
the very same silly way that Licky sometimes does.

I don't understand this sentence, though, where this leopard is being
compared to the snow leopard:

"The differences aren't all in the genes, either - the two species
have different fur patterns and skin coloration."

Eh? Fur patterns and skin coloration *don't* get determined by genes?
(I'm being facetious here - I just think this sentence doesn't make
much sense.)

The genes make a tendency towards a particular pattern, but the exact
details of the pattern are determined by the interactions of the hair
follicles as they develop. If an animal is injured, and the skin then
regrows, there will be minor differences from the pattern it had before.
Genetically-identical animals (clones, or identical twins, which are
naturally-occurring clones) will have similar, but not identical,
markings. In the same way, human twins don't have identical fingerprints.

--
John F. Eldredge --
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

John F. Eldredge wrote:

"The differences aren't all in the genes, either - the two species
have different fur patterns and skin coloration."

Eh? Fur patterns and skin coloration *don't* get determined by genes?
(I'm being facetious here - I just think this sentence doesn't make
much sense.)

The genes make a tendency towards a particular pattern, but the exact
details of the pattern are determined by the interactions of the hair
follicles as they develop. If an animal is injured, and the skin then
regrows, there will be minor differences from the pattern it had before.
Genetically-identical animals (clones, or identical twins, which are
naturally-occurring clones) will have similar, but not identical,
markings. In the same way, human twins don't have identical fingerprints.

I see what you're saying. But then, you're talking about the
differences between two individuals within the same species (or
two individuals who have identical DNA), not two different species.
They're saying the two species have different fur patterns, which
I would expect anyway, since their genes will be different.

Joyce

I don't understand this sentence, though, where this leopard is being
compared to the snow leopard:
"The differences aren't all in the genes, either - the two species
have different fur patterns and skin coloration."
Eh? Fur patterns and skin coloration *don't* get determined by genes?
(I'm being facetious here - I just think this sentence doesn't make
much sense.)

The're saying explicitly that the species difference is visible -
there are genetically distinct species that look the same, and given
how similar some of the various big-spotty-cat species look, it's
quite conceivable that two cat species might only be distinguishable
by another cat.

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