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
Theoretically would this bird be able to make fertile chicks with the extant species?
Probably? They both evolved from the same bird, so why not?
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