To: Pontiac
OK, I wish someone would explain this to me. They say limited interbreeding, which to me would suggest it’s not a distinct species, since as far as I know (and I taught biology) one of the defining characteristics of a species is that they cannot interbreed (and produce fertile offspring) with members of another species.
susie
5 posted on
01/02/2008 8:25:25 PM PST by
brytlea
(amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
To: brytlea
Different species can interbreed and it happens all the time. I keeep snakes. I have a Yellow Anaconda. This is a different species than the Green Anaconda. Yet the two can interbreed.
The same is true of Kingsnakes, Cornsnakes, Milksnakes. They are close, yet different.
8 posted on
01/02/2008 8:37:06 PM PST by
RoadGumby
(Ask me about Ducky)
To: brytlea
“one of the defining characteristics of a species is that they cannot interbreed”
I think you may have taught me. How many species of dogs are there, btw?
17 posted on
01/02/2008 9:16:09 PM PST by
CJ Wolf
(The Founding Fathers never intended a nation where citizens pay nearly half of everything they earn)
To: brytlea
They say limited interbreeding, which to me would suggest it’s not a distinct species, since as far as I know (and I taught biology) one of the defining characteristics of a species is that they cannot interbreed (and produce fertile offspring) with members of another species. The problem is, inbreeding can go up through genus and into families.
Dogs and wolves are considered separate species, but can freely inbreed.
Even lions and tigers can inbreed and they're considered much further apart than species.
It seems as though the designations are pretty flexible.
23 posted on
01/02/2008 9:52:06 PM PST by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: brytlea
"
OK, I wish someone would explain this to me." Simple. You taught biology, but this is biopolitics ;o)
40 posted on
01/03/2008 3:25:05 PM PST by
editor-surveyor
(Turning the general election into a second Democrat primary is not a winning strategy.)
To: brytlea
It is not that they cannot interbreed, it is that they DO NOT in the wild. I also do not understand this ‘limited interbreeding’; if there is gene mixing between the lineages then they are not that distinct, more like ‘eco-types’ or ‘races’ in humans.
A Lion and a Tiger can interbreed and produce fertile offspring that could then breed into one of these lineages (mixing Tiger genes into Lions or vice versa). However this only happens in captivity. Lions and Tigers do not interbreed in the wild and are obviously different species and have been for a very long time.
72 posted on
01/05/2008 7:50:58 AM PST by
allmendream
("A Lyger is pretty much my favorite animal."NapoleonD (Hunter 08))
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson