Re: apes and men

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In article <Pine.SOL.3.94.960802140643.15635A-100000@ursa.cus.cam.ac.uk> Jane Andrews <mja1002@cus.cam.ac.uk> writes:
>On 31 Jul 1996, Robert A. Fournier wrote:
>
>>
>> While it is true that chimps and man are conceivably closely enough related
>> to have an offspring (albeit a sterile one) the point is made moot by the
>> fact that apes and man have differing number of pairs of chromosomes,
>> making cell division impossible.
>>
>This wouldn't make all cell division impossible, just meiosis.

I was doing some research for a story a while back and came
across an interesting tidbit. It's been a while and I don't remember
the sources offhand and can't vouch for the accuracy, but IIRC, dogs
and wolves have the same number of chromosome pairs. Jackals have a
number that's one different. However, dogs, wolves, and jackals can
all interbreed _and_ produce fertile offspring. So, if both my memory
and my sources are accurate it would seem that different numbers of
chromosomes are not necessarily an impediment to a cross-breed.

-- 

David L. Burkhead                    "If I had eight hours to cut down

david8@dax.cc.uakron.edu             a tree, I'd spend seven sharpening

FAX:  330-253-4490                   my axe." Attributed to Abraham

SpaceCub                             Lincoln

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