The part about halting pig's aging at one year stopped me in my tracks.
The whole article was incredible, but that has been my lifelong dream (for pets) Imagine a dog that stayed one year old forever. Or a giraffe.
Edit: Guys. I get this isn't an immortal dog. I just want it to stop growing at one year, like the article says. I also understand this isn't a perfect commercialized technology.
That's not what happens. They don't just stay piglets forever. Mammals aren't that simple. They stop growing but they still age. They'll die younger than normal pigs as a result
Our two Burmese cats are eight years old and are still as playful, energetic and affectionate as when we got them as kittens - even though they are now quite a bit larger and heavier.
This appears to be a characteristic of the breed:
"Burmese maintain kitten-like interests and energy throughout their adulthood."
It's inevitable with all the science we have, but yes, it's a very bad thing. I have seen Christmas this year again; people flock to the pet shops (horribly bred puppies and other species, while there are tons of animals in refuges waiting for homes) to buy 'cute puppies'; three weeks after the kids don't like them anymore and the parents find them 'quite a bit of work' so they dump them somewhere. To end up in refuges or dead (rather have the latter in this case, but then have the fucking balls to do it yourself and not put them out of your car and drive off with it running after you not knowing wtf is going on. GRRRRR).
Since animal's size is encoded in a few genes that are specifically marked to evolve very quickly, any ill effects (for non-extreme settings) would be extremely unlikely. Besides, mutations in those genes exist without manipulation too, you have small tigers, and you have large cats. Those animals don't go crazy, so ...
Even in humans you have everything. From people who grow 2-3 centimeters from when they are born, to people who grow to 2.5 meters. While most examples have a somewhat short lifespan, it's not drastically short. Even though our skeleton clearly has problems with anything over 2 meters.
And you do see that happening. There are a lot of species that have changed size in documented history. The trend seems to be that anything that lives in cities, from tigers to rats, evolves to the size of a large cat, which seems to be optimal for survival. Also their colors change to very dark patterns that are bloody hard to see in the dark (and they only come out in the dark in cities). In nature there is more variation, but as habitats have generally become smaller, animals have shrunk too.
(these are neither ponys nor foals, they're fully grown adult horses, no if you're not a baby you can't ride them. They come in sizes varying from 30cm to 120cm. You also have horse races that have a "port"height (meaning their shoulders) of 2m)
It is, but still it quite open what happens if you'd deny a normal growth. Animals are no machines where you simply disable a gene and it works like you expect it to work.
We're not even sure what a huge amount of the DNA really does (and what it doesn't). So playing around with such stuff is trial-and-error as you see on virtually any such experiments (Orange trees, potatoes, cloned sheeps, etc.).
Ha, imagine that, a pig that's left to live until it's a year old. That must be a 0.01% occurrence. I bet the average slaughter age is well below 6 months.
Because evolution relies on survival of the fittest and genetic mutation. Your Chi-Pom-Poodle-Terrier isn't an evolutionary step for the canine. And most of all I don't want creationists to think that 'hand of god' is a valid evolutionary driver ;)
So we've already been doing this for thousands of years.
>Some common neotenous physical traits in domesticated animals (mainly dogs, pigs, ferrets, cats, and even foxes) include: floppy ears, changes in reproductive cycle, curly tails, piebald coloration, fewer or shortened vertebra, large eyes, rounded forehead, large ears, and shortened muzzle.
The whole article was incredible, but that has been my lifelong dream (for pets) Imagine a dog that stayed one year old forever. Or a giraffe.
Edit: Guys. I get this isn't an immortal dog. I just want it to stop growing at one year, like the article says. I also understand this isn't a perfect commercialized technology.