14 species of human to disappear?

[gh]

Fascinating (long) bit here.

http://descrier.co.uk/science/2013/10/c ... n-species/

[gm]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

Is one the Jersey Shore guy?

[Daisy]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

The is fairly predictable. After the discovery that Europeans have Neanderthal DNA in their genome, it is hard to refute there was no interbreeding. And if they could interbreed, why would we define them as different species?

This is a great example of a scientific model changing to accommodate new data.

[Marlow]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

This is a great example of a scientific model changing to accommodate new data.

Yes, and rather than DISproving anything about evolution, it merely provides new evidence to modify the existing theory. More info is gooder.

[Pego]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

The is fairly predictable. After the discovery that Europeans have Neanderthal DNA in their genome, it is hard to refute there was no interbreeding. And if they could interbreed, why would we define them as different species?

This is a great example of a scientific model changing to accommodate new data.

Explain something to me, Daisy. The prevailing wisdom is that you define species as a group that can breed reproductively successful offsprings and that is the case most of the time. There are exceptions, though. Wolves and dogs, for example, are classified as separate species, yet they can interbreed. I thought there were some other related species that could do that, but none come to mind at the moment.

[Marlow]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

The is fairly predictable. After the discovery that Europeans have Neanderthal DNA in their genome, it is hard to refute there was no interbreeding. And if they could interbreed, why would we define them as different species?

This is a great example of a scientific model changing to accommodate new data.

Explain something to me, Daisy. The prevailing wisdom is that you define species as a group that can breed reproductively successful offsprings and that is the case most of the time. There are exceptions, though. Wolves and dogs, for example, are classified as separate species, yet they can interbreed. I thought there were some other related species that could do that, but none come to mind at the moment.

Horses and donkeys are different species, aren't they? They can interbreed.

[Pego]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

The is fairly predictable. After the discovery that Europeans have Neanderthal DNA in their genome, it is hard to refute there was no interbreeding. And if they could interbreed, why would we define them as different species?

This is a great example of a scientific model changing to accommodate new data.

Explain something to me, Daisy. The prevailing wisdom is that you define species as a group that can breed reproductively successful offsprings and that is the case most of the time. There are exceptions, though. Wolves and dogs, for example, are classified as separate species, yet they can interbreed. I thought there were some other related species that could do that, but none come to mind at the moment.

Horses and donkeys are different species, aren't they? They can interbreed.

Yes, but their offsprings (mules) are sterile. The same as lions-tigers. That is why I specified "reproductively successful". Perhaps a bit awkward phrase, I'll admit :wink: .

[Daisy]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

I don't know about wolves and dogs with respect to the fertility of the hybrids. I expect there is a lot of debate about wolves and dogs since they are so close. Dogs are complicated since they are so derived through human selection.

Donkeys and horses actually have a different number of chromosomes and this partly explains why their progeny are sterile. But if the mules sperm or egg gets the right set of chromosomes, all donkey or horse, they could have a foal. But if you need all the donkey or all the horse chromosomes to sort together there is no real mixing of the genes of the two species. There are documented cases of this, and the Romans had a phrase "when a mule foals" similar to our own "when hell freezes over".

[gh]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

And everybody knows the difference between a tigon and a liger, right?

[Marlow]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

And everybody knows the difference between a tigon and a liger, right?

Napolean Dynamite do!
http://www.teesnthings.com/productimage ... shener.jpg

[Daisy]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

And everybody knows the difference between a tigon and a liger, right?

Along the same lines, a mule is the product of male donkey breeding with a female horse. But what do we call the progeny of a Male horse with a female donkey?

How about a male donkey with a zebra?
Or a female donkey with a Zebra?
Or a Zebra with a Horse?
Or a Zebra with a Pony?

[lonewolf]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

Isn't a pony just a small horse.?

[gh]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

do mules come in both male and female versions? (serious question; I would assume the answer is obviously yes, but….)

[Daisy]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

do mules come in both male and female versions? (serious question; I would assume the answer is obviously yes, but….)

My assumption has always been a yes, and a cursory google search appears to confirm it. But I could imagine a scenario where genetic imprinting (genes are on or off dependent on whether they are passed from the mother or the father) between the species would be really incompatible, such that one sex or the other would not survive.

[lonewolf]

Re: 14 species of human to disappear?

do mules come in both male and female versions? (serious question; I would assume the answer is obviously yes, but….)

I have always thought so. Jacks and Jennys but I also thought they could not procreate.