A human's natural diet is an omnivorous diet of raw vegetable matter, nuts, berries, eggs, a small amount of complex carbohydrate obtained from grass seed and organ meat, some muscle meat, a large amount of insects, the latter being in particular very important apparently!

Frankly, I would rather stick to chocolate!!

I don't think I do. If I was incorrect, then neither you nor I would be here in the first place.

So please do explain how, in your infinite wisdom on genetics, if my spaniels ears are long and floppy, how the genes involved in ear phenotype can show the exact same expression patterns and exon splice sites to that of a wolfs erect point ears? My doctorate in genetics tells me you ARE incorrect

I am not talking here about the finer points, I do not have a doctorate in genetics. I am talking from basic common sense. Our dogs ARE wolves, whether you like it or not, and you should know that if you really do have a doctorate in genetics. A few thousand years of domestication cannot change something so basic as what is a natural diet for a species. We have diversified in terms of our diet hugely over the last 50 years, but it does not make it "natural". We can live on a diet laden with carbohydrate and live perfectly well well into our 70's, but it does not make it natural. The natural diet of a canid is as I have already described, and a few thousand years of domestication aint gonna change that.

The old common sense vs science argument...

Ok then. "Common sense" versus an expert in the subject. I'll leave it to others to make up their own minds as to who knows what they are talking about when it comes to how dogs DO genetically differ from wolves.

What - you mean I'm *not* genetically designed to eat Cadbury's Dairy Milk?!

Then why do I crave it at least once a month??

Nothing is 'natural' anymore really. I mean; even raw feeding unless you hunt it yourself - mostly you won't know what the creatures you are feeding ate. And an awful lot of animal farming most certainly isn't natural...... so if the prey animals aren't eating natural stuff then the food isn't natural anyway.

It all gets a bit pedantic and confusing, naturally!

All we can do is the best we can and sometimes our dogs will thrive on what we don't consider to be the best and most 'natural' diet for them.

Fine, you want to argue with the Smythsonian Institute (spelling?), you're a better person than me.

I'm off for some well deserved shut eye now xx

Gnasher, unless you do not believe in evolution, that is a very lame argument.

Why would I argue with the Smithsonian? Their research into mtDNA is sound.

Sharing of mtDNA is not what we are talking about.

Humans share 98% of their GENOMIC DNA with mice. Does that mean we should all eat like mice?

Point being, homologus DNA is not what matters. It's expression patterns, exon splicing, epigenetics etc etc that seperate us from mice, and dogs from wolves. But hey never mind lets all just gloss over the finer technical points of the subject

PS just to be clear for everyone else, I'm not saying that on a physiological level dogs aren't canines. But genetically they are not identical to wolves.

Surely "common sense" would turn up looking at a pug and seeing that its phenotype and therefore genotype is vastly divergent from its wolf ancestor......