Adam Ruins Everything – Pure-Bred Dogs Are Genetic Monsters
Pure-breeding is a form of
genetic manipulation
humans made up just
to amuse ourselves.
In 19th century
Victorian England,
eugenics was all the rage,
and competitive dog breeding
became a weird, fancy fad.
I made a dog
with super loose skin.
I made one
with a super flat,
(bleep)-up face.
Oh, now,
that is disturbing.
I’m your god now.
Once these Dr. Frankensteins
were satisfied,
they dubbed their little
monsters “pure breeds”
and used kennel clubs to enforce
their bizarre standards.
(thunder crashes)
Behold my newest creation.
The corgi.
A corgi is 10 to 12 inches
tall with a foxy head,
wide, flat skull,
and non-sly expression,
so if your dog looks sly,
it’s a poser freak,
and it’s out of the club!
(thunder crashes)
That’s all
a corgi really is.
An arbitrary definition
made up by a weirdo.
Okay, but when you
get a purebred,
you get a good,
healthy dog, right?
Nope! When you hear
“purebred,”
you should think “inbred.”
Inbred?
Like a hot dog?
Adorable, but no.
Kennel clubs
prohibit purebred dogs
from mating outside
their breed, and often,
they’re mated members
of their own family,
making the average pug
as inbred as an Austrian duke.
My blood is very pure.
(groans, thud)
Well, maybe inbreeding
is not that bad.
We concur–
inbreeding is quite natural,
isn’t it, sister?
(both)
Mm… mm… mm…
Ugh, definitely not.
The sad truth is,
purebred dogs suffer
from disturbingly high rates
of genetic disease.
It’s because of a problem called
the genetic bottleneck.
Here to explain
is Dr. Kirk Lohmueller,
professor of evolution at UCLA.
(Professor Lohmueller)
Hi, Adam.
Here’s the problem
with pure breeding.
When species breed
in the wild,
they can exist
in large populations
and can mate randomly.
This ensures a nice,
healthy distribution
of genetic variation.
But when humans
started pure breeding dogs,
we had them mate over and over
again with their relatives
to get a specific look.
When we artificially limited
the gene pool in that way,
we created a genetic bottleneck.
As the same
small gene pool is spread
between more and more dogs,
diseases that would normally be rare,
become inevitable.
