4 ms·
> Two organisms are in the same species if they can successfully reproduce, i.e. produce an offspring that can itself produce offspring. OK, explain European E
by msla 7y ago
> Two organisms are in the same species if they can successfully reproduce, i.e. produce an offspring that can itself produce offspring.
OK, explain European Early Modern Humans and Neanderthals being different species.
- tabtab 7y agoPerhaps they are not. As I mention nearby, successful breeding can be measured on a continuous scale. We don't really know the success rate, other than it being above zero because humans have some of their genes. Maybe 9999 cross-group cave-people boinked for every one cave-baby produced. (Bamm-Bamm?)
- Sniffnoy 7y agoThat's not a good choice of counterexample; they're generally not considered separate species these days, largely because of that.
- bayesian_horse 7y agoThey diverged a rather long time before they started breeding again. They also seem to have other reproductive rates and behavior. They are anatomically more distant from modern Humans, than any group of modern Humans from each other. In every sense of the word species, it makes more sense to call Neanderthals a different species.
- msla 7y ago> They are anatomically more distant from modern Humans, than any group of modern Humans from each other. This makes them different subspecies, which humanity no longer has.