How is it that Dalmatians and Chihuahuas are so different but are members of the same species, yet two sparrows that look nearly identical are different species?
In: Biology
Physiology is easy to modify, as it’s basically selective breeding of traits inherited by parents over quick generations.
Like, breeding small dogs to have smaller and smaller offsprings. Or breeding white dogs with black spots, etc.
Main issues are: Genetic disorders, and inapt genetic adaptation (brain size, etc.).
Sparrows populations would have diverted slowly over thousands of generations. Isolation preventing the genetic pool to maintain coherent genetic code that allows reproduction, the population divide in two species.
Yet, you don’t change a winning model, at least in nature. Sparrows are adapted to rather specific environment, food, etc, and there’s only so much way a sparrow population can “evolve” physiologically. After all, a bird is a bird.
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