Saturday 21 November 2009

Jobs at Telegraph

Thursday, 27th March 2008

Just What is a Species?

1:57pm

Nice piece here today about hybrids, animals born of a mating between two different species (a chimera is the technical term, isn't it?). You do want to look at the photo set: the Liger is very fluffy indeed.

However, there's something that confuses me:

Kekaimalu the 'wolphin' was the result of the union of a bottlenose dolphin and a false killer whale, which is actually a member of the dolphin family......Unlike most hybrids, which tend to be sterile, Kekaimalu had two female calfs, both sired by male bottlenoses.

As with one of the other examples, a domestic dog/wolf crossbreed (and I've known a couple of husky/wolf crosses myself) my confusion comes from just what is the definition of a species.

We know that we can cross a horse with a donkey to get a mule but mules are sterile: indeed, that's where we get the meaning of "mule" for sterile from.

But I was taught that if animals from different species could in fact cross breed to create fertile offspring, that this meant that they were not in fact different species. Different looks, perhaps, different sub-species perhaps, but the very fact of fertile offspring showed that they were indeed the same species.

So has the definition of species changed since I was taught that all those decades ago?

Blogs: Martin Bright | Susan Hill | Alex Massie | Melanie Phillips | Faith Based | Cappuccino Culture

Actions: Email to a friend  |   Permalink   |   Comment | Subscribe

Post this entry to:   del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Comments Post comment

Be the first to comment on this article!

Back to top

Tag Cloud

Coffee House archive

sponsored links

Spectator recommends

Spectator classifieds

      GASCONY

GASCONY, SW France, near Condom-en-Armagnac 13th Century stone house, 21st Century luxury for 12 in 5 en-suites. 50 acres +

BIG SAND STEEL BAND

IF YOU ARE PLANNING A CHAMPAGNE RECEPTION and looking for some light entertainment, you can now hire London's busiest steel

BOSC LEBAT, Tarn et Garonne.

BOSC LEBAT, SW France. Only 45 minutes from Toulouse Airport with daily flights from most provincial airports avoiding the horrors