Remarkable Creatures - Hybrids May Thrive Where Parent Species Fear to Tread - NYTimes.com - 0 views
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Katie Day on 15 Sep 10Article on examples of cross-species breeds -- a zorse (horse + zebra), a liger (lion + tiger), etc. "While one might think that these oddities are examples of some kind of moral breakdown in the animal kingdom, it turns out that hybridization among distinct species is not so rare. Some biologists estimate that as many as 10 percent of animal species and up to 25 percent of plant species may occasionally breed with another species. The more important issue is not whether such liaisons occasionally produce offspring, but the vitality of the hybrid and whether two species might combine to give rise to a third, distinct species."