Isn’t it possible that the “new” bird is functionally identical to the extinct one, but achieves this through different genetic mutations ? In that case, would the new bird still be able to breed with the extinct one ?
Yeah, I figured this stuff was way above my biology knowledge. I guess the real question is “what actually makes a subspecies unable to have fertile offspring with another subspecies?”
And I suspect the answer is a biology paper with a 3 digits number of pages
Isn’t it possible that the “new” bird is functionally identical to the extinct one, but achieves this through different genetic mutations ? In that case, would the new bird still be able to breed with the extinct one ?
That is true, but there are subspecies which are made from two similar animals, like a horse and donkey make a mule.
Mules are sterile, though. It’s much rarer for different subspecies to make viable, fertile offspring.
Yeah, I figured this stuff was way above my biology knowledge. I guess the real question is “what actually makes a subspecies unable to have fertile offspring with another subspecies?”
And I suspect the answer is a biology paper with a 3 digits number of pages