Animation Source Forums

Hey there.

For quite some time (about a week, to be precise - generally, since I registered) I've been reading opinions about Aleu's greater resemblance of a wolf than Balto was illogical. To start with, I shall quote the two arguments I remember (and I'm sorry for not addressing their authors properly, I'm not sure where the original ideas were posted ).

1. Boris' line "Even more wolf than her father" is often interpreted as commenting Aleu's behavior, not her real species' characteristics.

2. Balto was 50% wolf and 50% husky, which, mixed with Jenna's 100% husky genes resulted in their children's 75% husky blood.

The first argument seems kinda cogent, though there were some voices against it. Nonetheless, it's a theoretical one and thus I won't refer to him further. Instead, I've focused on the second, combining what I managed to remember from biology lessons with a knowledge stored on Wikipedia: Hybrid, Canid hybrid, Wolf-dog hybrid).

The articles suggest that Balto would most probably be sterile, but that makes no difference for the further theories. And there are many indications quoted in the articles that hybrids (usually females, but again, it's not really important) are capable of breeding offspring with one of the base species. Having established that Balto's children are not a science fiction but a hypothetically verisimilitudinous organisms (I don't know actual Balto's pedigree, if there even is one).

Now, to get to my main point. Offspring's features are based on what parents' genes they receive and which of those genes are recessive and vice versa. Now, I may be wrong, but I think Jenna had two sets of husky genes (XX, both husky) and Balto had one set of husky genes and one of wolf (XY). Hence a limited possibility of breeding a wolf-looking pup, but if Balto's wolf gene (probably recessive) mixed with Jenna's recessive husky gene, the resulting pup - Aleu - could bear more features of a wolf than of a dog, had the wolf gene overcome its husky "rival". Now, consider those two sets (bold is the dominating set of genes):

Aleu (recessive Balto's wolf gene, recessive Jenna's husky gene)
Balto (recessive Aniu's wolf gene, recessive/dominant... Balto's father's gene)

Therefore, both Balto and Aleu would be valid wolf-dogs, yet Balto's dominating husky gene would make him look more husky-like - while Aleu's dominating wolf gene would make her look more wolf.

And let's not get into the discussion whether Aleu looked more wolf than Balto in the movie. It's a topic about the possibility of her more wolf-like presence, not about the very appearance



I hope the whole thing was understandable enough... And that I haven't made some fatal mistakes I'm not interested in biology a tiniest bit, so it's based loosely on what I remembered from school, plus some common sense thoughts If there's someone truly interested in such topic though, I'd love to hear their arguments for or against the validity of my theory

Thanks for reading - and I'd be glad to hear some comments from you. What do you think?

Nah, both Balto's sequels were produced at lowest cost possible, so it's not really a shock they weren't also well thought-out. That was also not the point of writing this - I'm rather hoping to end some unending debates over how is it possible that Aleu's more wolf-like than Balto. It may even affect someone's writing etc. - and I'd be most glad to help someone in such way



Well, however you denied picking on my post, I feel obliged to respond - however, I think that what I've written above is enough of a justification

Other than that - fans are fans, I guess it won't ever change. And various debates can be really educative - a great example is my journey through the Wikipedia articles to write my thoughts down properly - I would never have learned so much about hybrids, had I not decided to debate over the question It's not the only case though - many such discussion help develop logical thinking, eristic etc.

Thanks for responding!

As I stressed - I'm no specialist, hence I'm glad it sounds at least a bit cogent. Still, I wouldn't be myself if I wouldn't try to defend some of my points, even if through the lack of my biological knowledge I'd write something completely senseless (not to mention, none offense taken for that, I accept my impertinence on the topic.

Of course I wasn't talking just about Aleu's fur's color (or even better, as you implied, simply her race), but a complex set of her features making her look "even more wolf than father". And again, you're right to say that there is an unimaginable multitude of varying options of the genes' combinations, but taking into consideration the mentioned failure in portraying Balto and Jenna's offspring correctly, why couldn't we assume the chance of Aleu being the one of a million?

Should this make no sense, I'm going to give up, but, at the very least, my thesis of Aleu's features being more wolf-like than Balto's seems logical to me...

A note when opening topics like these: Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information. Anybody who knows nothing about something and something about nothing can edit Wikipedia.

That said, I don't see anywhere where the articles suggest Balto would be sterile.. I think I read on those pages a while back it would be something more like Balto's children would be sterile, but eh

I would argue, but with your attitude towards Wikipedia I have no arguments... As I stated on the very beginning, it's merely a quick research done to try and come up with a semi-possible justification of the aforementioned paradox. I have no proper knowledge on those topics, nor am I willing to educate further on such matters...

There is already justification for this that precedes all other justification. It is an animated movie, and thus things that contradict reality (if this does) may come up.

Still, (most of) facts depicted in animated movies - at least those taking place in our reality - should be consistent with the said reality. Plus, learning something new or having an interesting discussion can always be useful, no matter what's their basis.

Okay, so they defy reality in certain ways, but even though, they have some teaching potential... individual for each movie. But, as what we're focusing at here is Balto, a movie that shows results of crossing a dog with a wolf, why is a further deliberation aimed that way believed to be so negative?



I may have used a tad unfortunate expression... what I meant through education was a serious research based on reading books concerning the said topic etc.

Nobody said that those aforementioned things did not contain teaching material. Land Before Time teaches, among other things, to overcome weaknesses and to stick with friends. Displaying morality and being genetically correct (as in Aleu's case), are two way different things. When it's an animated movie trying to get a life lesson across, the morality is more important than scientifically correct portrayals. If I'm watching a movie about genetics, then the info better be correct. My point here is that we have fiction for a reason. Fiction can be based on facts, but doesn't have to be in order to be entertaining and meaningful.

As an example, Star Wars is a fictitious universe that I'm sure harbors countless scientific contradictions, but it manages to bring to light the intricacies of the struggle between good and evil.

Star Wars fans will speculate if modern science would allow us to create a lightsaber. Here you are speculating about whether or not Aleu is possible. The latter appears to be a yes or no question. As for the former, the prospect of creating a lightsaber lends itself (potentially) to a lot of scientific debate.

My point here is that something that can be proved/disproved on the spot, like a simple genetic issue, is going to be less mentally stimulating than scientific discussion on whether a blade of light can exist.



It is quite admirable for one to speak with elevated language, but please review your word choice. a "tad unfortunate expression..." does not make sense in regards to the point you are trying to convey. I'm not being picky primarily because of this one thing; your posts are not easy to follow. Some of your choices of words, although they are advanced, do not properly convey what you are trying to say.

Okay, I agree. However, it's still a sentence "You needn't have done that, it's completely useless". It's just hidden behind a wise elaboration..



I'm sorry... I'm trying my best to write correctly and I believe discussing on forums can help me develop... Therefore, thank you for pointing my mistake, I'll keep it in mind.

Shame on me. *Note to self: replace "way different" with "profoundly different" in the future.*




Well, indeed, if you pull out the main idea that's basically what I'm getting at.



Sorry if my comment about that came across as rude. It is great that you are committed to that. Your use of the language is better than most people on this forum.