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Scientists Discover Adorable Bird That's Actually 3 Species in One

I love discoveries that prove evolution. Nothing like a little DNA analysis.

This aptly describes my dating life:

"Researchers suspect this three-way hybridization ultimately happened in part because of declining numbers in the local population of golden-winged warblers, leaving females with fewer potential mates. In response, they may be “making the best of a bad situation” by selecting mates outside of their own species and genus, researchers wrote."

[huffingtonpost.com]

LiterateHiker 9 Nov 11
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7 comments

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1

You said, "This aptly describes my dating life." So, you're dating outside your species? How's that working for you?

@dare2dream

I knew someone would ask.

Nearly 75% of American men are obese and 60% of women.

I want an intelligent man with a great sense of humor who is: physically fit, enjoys hiking, Democrat, non-religious, kind and respectful. Who knows how to cook. I refuse to be a kitchen slave. And wants a committed, loving relationship.

"I figure there are four or five physically fit, older, single women who want a loving relationship in each state, excluding the South," a psychologist in Idaho said. "I've met all four women in Idaho. All four women had personality disorders."

Then there's the issue of sexual compatibility. I have a high sex drive.

Right now I have an exceptional lover. That's it. Greg doesn't hike and wants casual sex with no emotional involvement or commitment. He's a lousy conversationalist. You could say I'm using him for sex. He's doing the same thing.

Married 30 years, my hiking partner, Karen, is bored with sex with her critical husband.

"You are lucky!" Karen says. "You have great sex and don't have to put up with living with a man."

She has a point. But I still long for a loving, committed relationship.

@LiterateHiker : I was just kidding you. 😉
I'm sort of in a similar situation and looking for the same as you. After being married for 36 years (widowed for six) I think exclusive relationships are special and deeper, more meaningful than casual ones.

@LiterateHiker, all the women I have in my life want everything but sex. I kind of envy you. But sex without love I find distasteful too. So I have neither.

2

Ive taught Biology for at least 28 years. Always looking for good examples to use for evolution. Thank you for sharing.

0

I wonder if that male is fertile. Even if it is, females may reject him. They will expect him to talk dirty, and he will be talking in a different language.

3

If they can and do mate and produce fertile offspring then they are not separate species. Much less separate genera.

I disagree. While the general definition contends that a species is an organism that is able to interbreed and produce viable offspring, nature is flexible enough to respond to environmental pressures creatively. This one way in which new species evolve. Nature does not limit itself to our definition or understanding of processes. Reptiles and amphibians can be gender fluid as environmental stresses dictate. who's to say an interbreedibg between similar species cannot end in the creation of a new species.

@t1nick
This is not something that is up for debate. We are at the level of basic definition. Check any college textbook on biology.

@Flyingsaucesir Not true. I teach evolution. The definition is a general rule. Does not cover every circumstance or every situation. There is an ongoing debate about the definition of a species that is raging in the discipline. Most agree that the definition as it stands in the Biology texts is insufficient to truly define a species.

@t1nick
True there is debate...about where to draw the line between closely related species or subspecies. But isn't there general agreement that if members of two species that were never known to breed together are suddenly found to breed, then their status as different species has to be updated? I have never heard of any truly different species breeding together. What generally happens is that people discover that two groups are more closely related than anybody realized.

4

Something similar happening with coyotes and wolves in the northeast.
[smithsonianmag.com]

Coywolves, there is a documentary.

@EdEarl I saw a great one couple years back yes. Can't remember if Nova/PBS

@Qualia

@EdEarl YES!!!! Thank you Ed! ?

@Qualia Yw

@EdEarl

Fascinating. Thank you for posting this video.

@LiterateHiker You are welcome.

4

What an incredible find! Good to see nature in action without waiting eons of time...with species disappearing all the time, this is happy news indeed.

3

Wow! That is really interesting. Truly evolution in the making. I didn't even think this could happen with birds. That Burket guy really knows his avians, doesn't he?

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