Biologists wouldn’t say they’re the same species, because biologists are aware of interspecies hybrids and the species problem.
Comment on Polar bears
FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
Fun fact: Grizzlies and Polar Bears are the same species according to the Biological Species Concept.
Meaning they interbreed in the wild (somewhat rare), and produce viable offspring that can have babies as well.
We’re actually noticing this happening more and more with climate change. As Grizzly populations move further and further north, they’re encountering polar bears more often and are more likely to mate.
Dasus@lemmy.world 1 day ago
cRazi_man@lemm.ee 1 day ago
FourGreenFields@feddit.org 1 day ago
The number of confirmed hybrids has since risen to eight, all of them descending from the same female polar bear
She has a type.
chellomere@lemmy.world 1 day ago
She likes them brown boys
superkret@feddit.org 22 hours ago
fun fact: polar bears have black skin.
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Scary… Polar bears comming to my house! Slightly larger whiter Grizzlys still a problem.
xwolpertinger@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
Fun fact: Grizzlies and Polar Bears are the same species according to the Biological Species Concept.
Calling it that gives it too much credit, it is something thought up in the 17th/18th century without any concept of genetics and evolution.
Which might explain why it breaks down almost instantly under any amount of scrutiny.
barsoap@lemm.ee 7 hours ago
It’s a category. All lines are arbitrary to a degree and “interbreeds and produces viable offspring” is not terribly arbitrary. You can have arguments around populations which could and would interbreed if they weren’t geographically distinct, you can argue about whether offspring needs to be viable no matter which way around the sexes of the parents are, or how large the percentage of viable offspring needs to be, but in the end, yep it makes sense to have a distinction somewhere around that bunch of criteria.
House cats and European wild cats are considered distinct species not because they’re genetically incompatible, but because they don’t interbreed – too many behavioural differences, and we’re not speaking about culture, here. So even if they could intermingle in theory in practice they don’t, so they stay separate, so they’re different species.
It’s kind of… a behavioural view on the genome? If you have a better idea, field it.
LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 1 day ago
There are tons and tons and tons of species that can do this. It’s not clear to me what the prevailing species concept is nowadays, if we’re even still following one.
steal_your_face@lemmy.ml 20 hours ago
So are Neanderthals and homo sapiens the same species then?
bluewing@lemm.ee 15 hours ago
Close enough that we probably bred them out of existence. Neanderthal genetic markers show up with some regularity in certain modern human populations.
Geetnerd@lemmy.world 1 day ago
In the near future, Polar Bears as a separate species will likely disappear, and we’ll have all hybrids.
HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Image
AngryishHumanoid@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Hey, Mac! You still have that Halloween costume?