4 ms·

Interbreeding isn't a bright line. Zebras can breed with Donkeys! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebroid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebroid Darwin's Origin

Interbreeding isn't a bright line. Zebras can breed with Donkeys! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebroid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebroid Darwin's Origin of Species had a good section on this; the book is quite readable.

hanniabu 7y ago
They can breed, but if I'm not mistaken the off-spring can't have off-spring of their own.
- clouddrover 7y ago
  Lions and tigers can interbreed. Ligers and tigons are fertile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE8Z5Es-M0E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE8Z5Es-M0E
  - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
    Are lions and tigers both cats in the same way Border Collies and German Shorthair Pointers are both dogs? Or are there more significant differences?
    - pojzon 7y ago
      I would say your "dogs" example still represent the same spieces but different race. Those dogs can breed normal offsprings. Lions/tigers cannot.
      - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
        Oh yes, now I’ve read the Wikipedia articles, it seems Ligers and Tigons tend toward weak offspring prone to cancer.
    - barry-cotter 7y ago
      That depends entirely on what “the same way” means. Lions’ and tigers’ last common ancestor was well over a million years ago. Pathera’s last common ancestor was 6.6mya. European derived dogs probably had a common ancestor within the last thousand years, definitely the last five thousand. Dogs are fully interfertile, Panthera are mostly interfertile, more than horses, zebras and donkeys are, for example. It might be possible to get zebra ancestry into donkeys’ or lions’ gene pools but there’s no might about lions and tigers. It could be done, and similarly divergent Felidae have mostly domestic cat breeds with substantial non housecat ancestry, like Bengals. Tigers’ and lions’ behaviour and morphology are very different but the same could be said for greyhounds and bloodhounds, or Great Danes and Chihuahuas. You can’t really answer the question without specifying how you’re comparing them.
    - masklinn 7y ago
      > Or are there more significant differences? They're completely different cats. Panthera leo and Panthera tigris split about 7MYA (est.).
  - bredren 7y ago
    I thought this was just a figment if napolean’s imagination
- riffraff 7y ago
  Mules and hinnies are tipically sterile but can sometimes be fertile too, hybrids are more complex than whatbis generally known.
blueblimp 7y ago
"Darwin's Origin of Species had a good section on this; the book is quite readable." Yeah, I recall Darwin discussing at length how there's no clear difference between a "species" and a "variety". It's a key point, so it's too bad that many people are still under the impression that "species" has an unambiguous definition.

hanniabu 7y ago

They can breed, but if I'm not mistaken the off-spring can't have off-spring of their own.

clouddrover 7y ago
Lions and tigers can interbreed. Ligers and tigons are fertile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE8Z5Es-M0E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE8Z5Es-M0E
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
  Are lions and tigers both cats in the same way Border Collies and German Shorthair Pointers are both dogs? Or are there more significant differences?
  - pojzon 7y ago
    I would say your "dogs" example still represent the same spieces but different race. Those dogs can breed normal offsprings. Lions/tigers cannot.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
      Oh yes, now I’ve read the Wikipedia articles, it seems Ligers and Tigons tend toward weak offspring prone to cancer.
  - barry-cotter 7y ago
    That depends entirely on what “the same way” means. Lions’ and tigers’ last common ancestor was well over a million years ago. Pathera’s last common ancestor was 6.6mya. European derived dogs probably had a common ancestor within the last thousand years, definitely the last five thousand. Dogs are fully interfertile, Panthera are mostly interfertile, more than horses, zebras and donkeys are, for example. It might be possible to get zebra ancestry into donkeys’ or lions’ gene pools but there’s no might about lions and tigers. It could be done, and similarly divergent Felidae have mostly domestic cat breeds with substantial non housecat ancestry, like Bengals. Tigers’ and lions’ behaviour and morphology are very different but the same could be said for greyhounds and bloodhounds, or Great Danes and Chihuahuas. You can’t really answer the question without specifying how you’re comparing them.
  - masklinn 7y ago
    > Or are there more significant differences? They're completely different cats. Panthera leo and Panthera tigris split about 7MYA (est.).
- bredren 7y ago
  I thought this was just a figment if napolean’s imagination
riffraff 7y ago
Mules and hinnies are tipically sterile but can sometimes be fertile too, hybrids are more complex than whatbis generally known.

blueblimp 7y ago

"Darwin's Origin of Species had a good section on this; the book is quite readable." Yeah, I recall Darwin discussing at length how there's no clear difference between a "species" and a "variety". It's a key point, so it's too bad that many people are still under the impression that "species" has an unambiguous definition.