would animals suffer from human defectives like Down Syndrome and Mental Retardation?

[andylawcc]

I was just curious, I never saw a Retarded Dog or a Cat with Turret or "Down" Horse.... is it biologically possible for animals (or any non-human species) to have such defects?

 

[PatboyX]

and poor grammar?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Yes, but the animal would be "selected out". In other words it would die before long.

 

[tweakmm]

There are dogs with narcolepsey and I swear that I've had contact with some dogs that were atleast mildly retarded.

 

[DerMonkeyhauser]

I would imagine that it's possible for animals with those afflictions to survive in captivity, but nature is far less forgiving. Animals that had genetic defects would not last long enough to pass them on to the next generation before being eaten by something smarter and faster.

 

[geno]

These defects are results of our chromosomes being malformed if I remember my biology. Animals might have their own "set" of possible defects since they have different chromosome sets than we do. This is just a guess from someone who has little experience in the biology field 🙂

 

[Reliant]

Natural selection will actually kick in and they'll die very early in their life. As humans we take care of people with such defects and they can live, but animals don't/can't do the same.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: DerMonkeyhauser
I would imagine that it's possible for animals with those afflictions to survive in captivity, but nature is far less forgiving. Animals that had genetic defects would not last long enough to pass them on to the next generation before being eaten by something smarter and faster.

Yep, and you'll likely see less of it in nature because society tends to protect their "defective" members and allow them to reproduce, thus perpetuating genetic defects ... an animal with eyes as bad as mine wouldn't last long in the bush.

 

[IshmaelLeaver]

Originally posted by: ergeorge

Originally posted by: DerMonkeyhauser
I would imagine that it's possible for animals with those afflictions to survive in captivity, but nature is far less forgiving. Animals that had genetic defects would not last long enough to pass them on to the next generation before being eaten by something smarter and faster.

Yep, and you'll likely see less of it in nature because society tends to protect their "defective" members and allow them to reproduce, thus perpetuating genetic defects ... an animal with eyes as bad as mine wouldn't last long in the bush.

Would Bush last long in the bush?

 

[Chadder007]

....Now you know why animals eat some of their young....

 

[BillGates]

This is an interesting issue. Do cultures that aren't "up to date" as Western/European cultures allow offspring born with the above defects fall to nature? It's a sad situation but it is nature after all. I don't know which side my opinion falls on... I definitely feel sorry for the parents though.

 

[gururu]

my parents have a dog that I think would qualify as retarded. It was very timid for years and never learned how to do anything except 'use' the outdoors (house dog). So long as it knows how to eat, and their is someone to feed it, I think any animal would survive. In the wild this dog would certainly have been run out of the pack and starved.

 

[notfred]

Humans are the only creatures that spend extra tons of extra time and care on those that are least likely to suceed.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

We've had a cat with one chromosome too many. He was terrible at judging distances when jumping, and wouldn't learn as fast from errors as his sister. Oh, and all the animals he'd catch and bring home were rare. From rare birds to rare frogs. Sometimes he'd bring home a seemingly normal bird, which then turned out to be a close relative of the common bird, but one of which there were only a few hundred left in the country :/

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: IshmaelLeaver

Originally posted by: ergeorge

Originally posted by: DerMonkeyhauser
I would imagine that it's possible for animals with those afflictions to survive in captivity, but nature is far less forgiving. Animals that had genetic defects would not last long enough to pass them on to the next generation before being eaten by something smarter and faster.

Yep, and you'll likely see less of it in nature because society tends to protect their "defective" members and allow them to reproduce, thus perpetuating genetic defects ... an animal with eyes as bad as mine wouldn't last long in the bush.

Would Bush last long in the bush?

You'd have to ask Mrs. Bush...

 

[AvesPKS]

My aunt had a kitten that was born with just paws for front legs and rear legs which were on backwards...so yes.

 

[alkemyst]

I don't know if they would be classified as retarded but the islanders that eat dogs usually breed them to be ultra stupid...

 

[SWScorch]

I had a ferret that was mentally challenged once. I forget exactly what was wrong with him, but he was literally retarded.

And, my cat right now is a little slow as well. As in, he doesn't learn nearly as fast as the other cats, forgets things, runs into doors, etc

 

[SubZeroX]

the mother will usually canabalize the offspring if it detected anything wrong with it. Somehow they know. I know this happens for mice and rats, so it probably happens for dogs and cats as well. So you will not likely seen many deformed cats and dogs.

 

[Vic]

Yes, but they don't live long. And not just do to nature. Wolves and chimpanzees, for example, will kill at birth any offspring found to be defective in any way. Wolves are especially vicious about keeping their genes clean, as they will kill a newborn pup simply for having the wrong color fur.