Science Forums 2

[enorbet2]

I was going to say to Moontanman that ducks and chickens cannot likely produce offspring since Nature seems to go to great lengths to prevent interspecies dalliance but after seeing that Drake picture I suspect he can do whatever he wants, except produce offspring. Of course one of the natural laws seems that even if an offspring occurs they will likely be sterile like Mules (from horses and donkeys) and Ligers (from Lion and Tiger) and rarely happen in nature anyway but rather only by artificial insemination. There was an interesting show on The Science Channel about a supposed "Humanzee" suspected of being a human chimp hybrid. That turned out to be false but his DNA was very abnormal but I forget exactly in what way or if anyone has ideas how it got that way.

It was further interesting that the so-called Humanzee smelled differently and chimps would stay away and/or ostracize him. That didn't bother him since he preferred human company. He had to be tracked down since he was sold by his original owners for bending over and mounting the wife of the team. I've often wondered why it is so common that species will even attempt what is doomed to failure given what seems to be hard-wiring to prevent success.

Galapagos, I am also some interested in how evolution seems to change testicle size in species where females receive multiple males during one estris. As I understand it there are many mechanisms for Alpha males to minimize the possibility of competing males and maximize their own but testicle size and ejaculate volume seem to be a common result, or so I've read. Any input or expansion on that if it isn't too tangential to the errr main thrust of the thread?