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There are many species that are separated by 100K/1M years that are still able to interbreed. Horses, Donkeys, Zebras are a good example. These animals can prod
by i386 7y ago
There are many species that are separated by 100K/1M years that are still able to interbreed. Horses, Donkeys, Zebras are a good example. These animals can produce viable offspring but still have significant anatomical differences (those differences tend to define what we call species)
- ACow_Adonis 7y agoYes, but they are notable because of their exceptional nature, and where many of them do interbreed, the understanding is they often/ predominantly produce sterile offspring, and thus do not/ have not spread in any meaningful way through the resulting population. If 'Neanderthal DNA' is found in a huge percentage of 'modern humans', on the face of if, it seems to me the notion that Neanderthals should be considered a separate species is the preposition that seems somewhat/increasingly spurious...
- danieltillett 7y agoCould you explain why you think the number of hybrid offspring of Neanderthals currently living prevents Neanderthals being a different species? This is like saying that if there are a large number of mules alive that donkey’s can’t be considered a different species to horses. There is evidence that the offspring of the Neanderthal hybrids follow Haldane's Rule [1]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haldane%27s_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haldane%27s_rule