If the definition of species is that individuals of the same species are capable of producing fertile offspring why were humans and Neanderthals able to reproduce? Are we the same species?
In: Biology
That’s not the complete picture. We often define a species as two individuals that can interbreed, but that’s more of a rule of thumb. In the real world there’s many examples of interspecies breeding, like mules- the offspring of a donkey and a horse. Many times the distinction of species has to be made genetically or based on other characteristics like habitat/niche.
Neanderthals were a different species genetically but were similar enough to humans to breed with them.
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