"A species is a discrete population that can't mate out..."
Yeah, right. Dogs, wolves and coyotes get it on cheerfully. I probably have somewhere between 1 and 4 percent Neanderthal DNA.
And polar bears and brown bears have continued to mate despite becoming quite different species with different lifestyles.
Interestingly, polar bears have a lot more brown bear DNA than the reverse. Maybe this means through some kind of gene dominance that brown bear/polar bear hybrids (I refuse to call them "pizzlies") end up looking more like polar bears.
Just like I don't look at all like a Neanderthal.
Incomplete species splitting is apparently a thing. And it might help the polar bears survive climate change...albeit possibly as a slightly different kind of bear.
Just like the extinct Neanderthals are right here.
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