I grew up hearing that the main indicator of a species was that they only reproduced with one another. But Neanderthals and Humans cross bred. And they’re separate species. And in captivity Lions and Tigers can breed, but they’re obviously different species. Like I guess I’m just confused where the line gets drawn when deciding what is and isn’t a different species.
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In class, I teach the definition of a species is a population of organisms that can breed AND produce fertile offspring.
There are two statements here:
1) must be able to breed with each other
2) the babies must be fertile and able to have their own. In your example of the Liger…they’re infertile like mules and other hybrid animals. There are the occasional one-offs, but in general they’ll be sterile.
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