Neontology is a part of biology that, in contrast to paleontology , deals with living (or, more generally, recent ) organisms . It is the study of extant taxa (singular: extant taxon ): taxa (such as species , genera and families ) with members still alive, as opposed to (all) being extinct . For example:
16-607: The Boerboel ( pronounced [ˈbuːrbul] ) is a South African breed of large dog of mastiff type, used as a family guard dog . It is large, with a short coat, strong bone structure and well-developed muscles. It is recognised by the Kennel Union of Southern Africa , but not by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale . In South Africa, the Animal Improvement Act (62 of 1998) defines
32-556: A guard dog on remote farms and estates and for big game hunting , and known as the Boer Dog or Boer Hunting Dog. An account from 1909 describes this cross-breed as the best dog for hunting leopards and baboons in packs; a leopard with a leg caught in a trap can be killed by a pack of them. The Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa describes the Boer Mastiff as an excellent fighter; one killed leopards in four single combats over
48-411: A primate with traits that would represent anything in between humans and the other great apes . If the concept of an ape-man were based on neontology, then our phenotype would resemble Bigfoot . Since the concept was based on paleontology, the idea of an ape-man could possibly be represented by the fossil hominids. Neontology studies extant (living) taxa and recently extinct taxa, but declaring
64-609: A breed of animal indigenous to or developed in the republic to be a landrace , therefore the Boerboel is regarded as a landrace in the republic. The Act grants powers to a registered "animal breeders society", and the South African Boerboel Breeders' Society (SABBS) is a registered animal breeders society. The SABBS is the only organisation authorised under the Act to officially register Boerboels. As legally registered custodian of
80-554: A number of years, but was killed by a fifth. Breeding of the Boerboel began in the 1950s. A breed association , the Suid-Afrikaanse Boerboel Telersvereniging or South African Boerboel Breeders Association, was established in 1983. A new association, the South African Boerboel Breeders' Society, was formed in 2012 and registered with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 2014. The Boerboel
96-594: A physical ideal and purity of lineage". According to BigThink , over 40% of the world's dog breeds come from the United Kingdom , France and Germany . It states: " Great Britain and France are the ground zero of dog fancying, with 57 registered breeds each. Germany is not far behind, with 47 breeds. These three countries alone represent more than 40% of all dog breeds recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale ." Neontology#Extant taxa versus extinct taxa A taxon can be classified as extinct if it
112-531: A taxon to be definitively extinct is difficult. Taxa that have previously been declared extinct may reappear over time. Species that were once considered extinct and then reappear unscathed are characterized by the term "the Lazarus effect", or are also called a Lazarus species . For example, a study determined that 36% of supposed mammalian extinction had been proven, while the other 64% had insufficient evidence to be declared extinct or had been rediscovered. Currently,
128-824: Is a large dog, with a strong bone structure and well-developed muscles. The head is large and the muzzle is short. The coat is short and sleek with dense hair coverage. The recognised colours are brindle, fawn, and brown; it may or may not have a black mask. There is one minor divergence between breed standards; the Kennel Union of South Africa does not accept black but SABBS does. The dogs show courage when threatened; they may display aggression toward other dogs or strangers. The Boerboel may develop hip or elbow dysplasia , vaginal hyperplasia , ectropion and entropion . Juvenile epilepsy (with attacks brought on by metabolic changes or stress) has been observed. A Boerboel's behaviour and comportment may change over time. Ownership of
144-666: Is also banned or prohibited in Bermuda , France, Mauritius , and Qatar ; importation is prohibited in the Faroe Islands , Singapore , Tunisia and the Turks and Caicos islands. List of dog breeds This list of dog breeds includes both extant and extinct dog breeds , varieties and types . A research article on dog genomics published in Science/AAAS defines modern dog breeds as "a recent invention defined by conformation to
160-399: Is broadly agreed or certified that no members of the group are still alive. Conversely, an extinct taxon can be reclassified as extant if there are new discoveries of living species (" Lazarus species "), or if previously known extant species are reclassified as members of the taxon. Most biologists, zoologists , and botanists are in practice neontologists, and the term neontologist
176-443: Is used largely by paleontologists referring to non- paleontologists . Stephen Jay Gould said of neontology: All professions maintain their parochialisms , and I trust that nonpaleontological readers will forgive our major manifestation . We are paleontologists, so we need a name to contrast ourselves with all you folks who study modern organisms in human or ecological time . You therefore become neontologists. We do recognize
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#1732858197014192-556: The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers a taxon to be recently extinct if the extinction occurred after 1500 C.E. A recently considered extinct mammal was the Bouvier's red colobus monkey, who was considered extinct up until 2015 when it was rediscovered after 40 years with no recorded sightings. Neontology's fundamental theories rely on biological models of natural selection and speciation that connect genes,
208-533: The Boerboel dog breed, SABBS is responsible for the standards that govern identification, recording, evaluation and improvement of the breed. The Kennel Union of Southern Africa recognises that Boerboels were registered on its books. The name Boerboel derives from the Afrikaans words boer , meaning farmer, and boel , a shortening of boelhond , meaning bulldog. The Boerboel descends from an old colonial cross-breed of mastiffs and bulldogs used both as
224-485: The dog is limited by law in many countries: importation to Romania was prohibited in 2002, and ownership restricted to those with a court permit; the breed was banned in Denmark in 2010; in 2011 Russia designated it an "especially dangerous breed", subject to mandatory registration and certification; Ukraine has classified it as a dangerous dog, subject to mandatory microchipping , muzzle and civil liability insurance. It
240-499: The population structure than paleontology does. When the scientific community accepted the synthetic theory of evolution , taxonomies became phylogenetic . As a result, information gaps arose within the fossil record of species, especially in Homo sapiens . The anthropologists who accepted the synthetic theory reject the idea of an "ape-man" because the concept had mistaken paleontology with neontology. An ape-man, in actuality, would be
256-725: The unbalanced and parochial nature of this dichotomous division. Neontological evolutionary biology has a temporal perspective between 100 and 1000 years. Neontology's fundamental basis relies on models of natural selection as well as speciation . Neontology's methods, when compared to evolutionary paleontology , have a greater emphasis on experiments. There are more frequent discontinuities present in paleontology than in neontology, because paleontology involves extinct taxa. Neontology has organisms actually present and available to sample and perform research on. Neontology's research method uses cladistics to examine morphologies and genetics . Neontology data has more emphasis on genetic data and
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