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Re: Hominid speciation, Pt 2.
Mark Fagan (71640.2463@CompuServe.COM)
24 Jul 1995 05:41:44 GMT
Part 2/2
As I allways understood it, species were groups of animals that DID
NOT interbreed, not necessarily COULD NOT. They might be separted
by geography, season, behaviour, etc. but this does not preclude
their producing fertile offspring if the circumstances permit.
Lions and tigers can have reproducing hybrids, but we wouldn't call
them a single species.
If the genes which produce the complex of morphologies that we
recognise as modern humans were strongly linked, genetically, it
may well be that some of the offspring were not at any
disadvantage. They may well have inherited a functional suite of
modern characteristics. Perhaps some of their offspring would have
had the earlier suite reappear, but then that's natural selection
for you! ;-) If the acquired traits were adaptive, though, this
may well have been counterbalanced and given the surviving
offspring an advantage, raising the overall fitness of the
'hybrids'.
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