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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A species is a group of similar organisms which can interbreed and produce fertile offsprings.
Not ONLY with another, but CAN at all. Like, horses and donkeys are each a species, but a mule cannot reproduce. The physiology is similar enough that a hybrid can be made, but different enough that the hybrid cannot reproduce. Horses are a species, but they do not ONLY mate with horses. Mules are not a species as they can’t continue the line.
Cats are weird and don’t follow normal rules. Ligers and Tigons can make more hybrids that further blur the lines between species but normally don’t do so outside of captivity.
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