Hybrids
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Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
It is not common in nature. A working definition of "species" is two genetically distinct populations of animals that are closely related enough that their sperm and ova are capable of crossbreeding, yet differently enough that they don't regard each other as potential mates. In my day we defined them as being of the same "genus," in fact that was the definition of "genus," but apparently the definition has changed and I still have no idea what it is now.
In many closely related species of warm-blooded animals (mammals and birds) whose territories overlap so they run into each other, the big issue is the courtship ritual. Male birds, for example, have elaborate mating dances and if they don't do it right, the female will not be aroused and interested. Tigers scratch the hell out of each other with their claws and lions really really hate that, so lions and tigers don't mate.
There are exceptions when a population becomes "distressed" and mates are hard to find. An animal's instinct to propagate its genes overrides its instinct to mate with one of its own kind. Wolves were practically eradicated in many parts of North America, so they started mating with coyotes. The hybrid offspring from eastern Canada are migrating south into the northeastern U.S. and mingling with the native coyotes. As a result we've got hybrid coyotes here in Maryland that are almost twice as big as the ones back home in California, fifty-pound monsters that are rather frightening. I think our deer problem has been solved.
Man's disturbance of nature causes hybridization in other ways. The area surrounding human settlements has become a new kind of habitat, teeming with the perfectly good food we throw away and the rodents and bugs it attracts. This is ideal territory for scavengers and hunters of small prey, except for the fact that most animals are not comfortable around our noisy, energetic habitations and are reluctant to feed so close to us. Naturally there are always a few individuals who decide that we're not that scary, and the easy life provided by the bounty of food on the fringes of our settlements is well worth the risk of learning to live around us.
It stands to reason that those curious, adventurous individuals will be the same ones who have no taboos about inter-species dating. I've been told by aviculturists that they saw riotously colored hybrid macaws raiding the dumpsters behind restaurants in Latin America, or begging for food like crows.
The rose-breasted grosbeak was indigenous to the eastern USA, and the black-headed grosbeak to the west. Their ranges were separated by the lovely dense rain forest that used to grow along the Mississippi River. Since the forest was cleared and replaced by farms, both species of grosbeak were attracted by the crops--they particularly love the fruit in orchards. They're both pretty in-your-face little birds and hybrid mating wasn't much of an emotional challenge for them. The first reports I've read of hybrid grosbeaks on the banks of the Mississippi were from the 1960s. Today we have them at our feeders in California. They crossed the Rockies in forty years.
Hybridization of plants is similarly an effect of civilization. Cross-pollination can't be prevented, but it's certain that the hybrid seedling won't be as well adapted to the conditions in the region as either parent species. However, when we come along and mess up the landscape by building a road across it, we change the conditions. Botanists say that stands of hybrid plants are fairly common sights along roadways.
In many closely related species of warm-blooded animals (mammals and birds) whose territories overlap so they run into each other, the big issue is the courtship ritual. Male birds, for example, have elaborate mating dances and if they don't do it right, the female will not be aroused and interested. Tigers scratch the hell out of each other with their claws and lions really really hate that, so lions and tigers don't mate.
There are exceptions when a population becomes "distressed" and mates are hard to find. An animal's instinct to propagate its genes overrides its instinct to mate with one of its own kind. Wolves were practically eradicated in many parts of North America, so they started mating with coyotes. The hybrid offspring from eastern Canada are migrating south into the northeastern U.S. and mingling with the native coyotes. As a result we've got hybrid coyotes here in Maryland that are almost twice as big as the ones back home in California, fifty-pound monsters that are rather frightening. I think our deer problem has been solved.
Man's disturbance of nature causes hybridization in other ways. The area surrounding human settlements has become a new kind of habitat, teeming with the perfectly good food we throw away and the rodents and bugs it attracts. This is ideal territory for scavengers and hunters of small prey, except for the fact that most animals are not comfortable around our noisy, energetic habitations and are reluctant to feed so close to us. Naturally there are always a few individuals who decide that we're not that scary, and the easy life provided by the bounty of food on the fringes of our settlements is well worth the risk of learning to live around us.
It stands to reason that those curious, adventurous individuals will be the same ones who have no taboos about inter-species dating. I've been told by aviculturists that they saw riotously colored hybrid macaws raiding the dumpsters behind restaurants in Latin America, or begging for food like crows.
The rose-breasted grosbeak was indigenous to the eastern USA, and the black-headed grosbeak to the west. Their ranges were separated by the lovely dense rain forest that used to grow along the Mississippi River. Since the forest was cleared and replaced by farms, both species of grosbeak were attracted by the crops--they particularly love the fruit in orchards. They're both pretty in-your-face little birds and hybrid mating wasn't much of an emotional challenge for them. The first reports I've read of hybrid grosbeaks on the banks of the Mississippi were from the 1960s. Today we have them at our feeders in California. They crossed the Rockies in forty years.
Hybridization of plants is similarly an effect of civilization. Cross-pollination can't be prevented, but it's certain that the hybrid seedling won't be as well adapted to the conditions in the region as either parent species. However, when we come along and mess up the landscape by building a road across it, we change the conditions. Botanists say that stands of hybrid plants are fairly common sights along roadways.
a long time ago there was a deliberate crossbreeding between two human races. one of them was a race of intelligent giants and the others were primitive. our human race was the result of this crossbreeding. that's why there are still born people who are... very tall...
and in the past... for example the greeks... were very intelligent.
and that's why we have stories about giants.
it's mentioned in gen 6:4
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edit: an even longer time ago there was another crossbreeding... between the apelike astral human prototypes and beasts. the result of this crossbreeding are the apes we see today...
and in the past... for example the greeks... were very intelligent.
and that's why we have stories about giants.
it's mentioned in gen 6:4
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edit: an even longer time ago there was another crossbreeding... between the apelike astral human prototypes and beasts. the result of this crossbreeding are the apes we see today...
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Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
SciForums is by definition a scientific forum. Biology and Genetics is a science subforum. In the science subforums the principles of science are to be respected, or at least not flouted, as you have done.
From now on, please restrict this type of anti-scientific posting to the Religion or Pseudoscience Subforums. Or, if you truly want to dispute the validity of the scientific method, take it to Philosophy or General Science, but you had better be prepared for a proper debate. Maybe you can even get away with this on Free Thoughts although I can't speak for the patience of the moderators there.
Whatever you're trying to do, you chose the wrong subforum. Don't do it again. Consider yourself warned.
If this was meant as a joke, I apologize for not getting it. But I'm not sure anyone else will either. This is a sensitive issue on SciForums right now as we're trying to reemphasize our mission as a place for scientists and people interested in science. The Forces of Darkness are everywhere, especially right now in the U.S.
Well, yes, it could technically be possibly for species of fish to be cross-fertilized. It would be a little more rare, because fish sperm and eggs cells likely have very specific protein markers on their surface that allow them to only attach to gametes of the same species (or ones very closely related).
Squid reproduce much in the same way as most fish. The female lays clusters of unfertilized eggs along the ocean floor, and the males release their sperm over top of the eggs, which then settles on the clusters and fertilizes the eggs.
The octosquid may be a hybrid, but it may also be a new species that people just have never seen before. There are likely many of species in the deep ocean that are unknown to us. So I guess we'll find out when the scientists in Hawaii have a better look. Definitely interesting though.