Are animal species a spectrum? Just because an animal has dog genes assigned at birth, does it really make it a dog?
Are animal species a spectrum? Just because an animal has dog genes assigned at birth, does it really make it a dog?
William Smith
Justin Rogers
Good question. It probably is. But is a gender of an animal a spectrum as well? Can my dog be trans?
Lucas Gray
they quite literally are a spectrum. taxonomy is not as precise of a model as population genetics.
Alexander Ross
Not really animal species, the definition here is rigid: the ability to produce fertile offspring.
What intrigues me more is bacteria species, since they reproduce by simply dividing, there are no real "parents". Additionally, bacteria can exchange genes during their lifetimes with completely different species of bacteria through plasmids, transposons and general uptake of DNA. How the fuck are species defined among bacteria? Any microbiologist or just a well educated person here to answer?
Jaxson Smith
So my cat can be dog gendered?
Levi Torres
I remember there being certain primates, often considered to be different species but since they did not split off all that long ago some populations of the two species have been shown to have fertile offspring (both males and females) I suppose this showcases the spectrum-like nature of species and the imprecisions of classical taxonomy.
Lucas Mitchell
cats and dogs are too far apart on the spectrum, sorry.
Ryder Cooper
hmm i guess so. There is also the case of the mule: if a male donkey and a female horse (1st generation) produce a female mule (2nd generation), then that mule can mate with another male donkey and produce another mule (3rd generation). The 2nd gen mule could be considered as a fertile offsping, but the genes in the 3rd gen mule originating from the 2nd gen mule are actually the same as those originating from the 1st gen horse. It only works in this scenario so it's not a viable defiance of the principle, but rather fascinating nonetheless.
Logan Walker
>Not really animal species, the definition here is rigid: the ability to produce fertile offspring.
except it's not at all and the definition isn't very strict. there are plenty of species that can produce fertile offspring with other species.
its obviously a spectrum in terms of gene difference, with enough gene different disabling the ability to produce fertile offspring, but that threshold of disablement not being consistent or precise.
Dylan Brooks
How can you NOT think gender is a spectrum? There are more masculine and less masculine men, aren't there?