ANSWERS: 13
  • Species cannot interbreed. Races can. The human race, all its ethnicities, can interbreed.
  • 1) All human are members of the human species, one of the many animal species. If you want to find some unit of which we are one of many, you have to go up to the next classification level, "genus": "Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives. The genus is estimated to be about 2.5 million years old, evolving from Australopithecine ancestors with the appearance of Homo habilis. Appearance of Homo coincides with the first evidence of stone tools (the Oldowan industry), and thus by definition with the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_(genus%29 "In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are often used, such as based on similarity of DNA or morphology. Presence of specific locally adapted traits may further subdivide species into subspecies." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species 2) "Conceptions of race, as well as specific ways of grouping races, vary by culture and over time, and are often controversial for scientific as well as social and political reasons. The controversy ultimately revolves around whether or not races are natural types or socially constructed, and the degree to which perceived differences in ability and achievement, categorized on the basis of race, are a product of inherited (i.e., genetic) traits or environmental, social and cultural factors." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(classification_of_human_beings%29 ---- MODIFIED (the original answer contained only the last point) 3) ""The ability to reproduce is also of fundamental importance, obviously. Darwin studied the ingenuity of plant pollination in great detail. Flowers glow in glorious hues and exude delirious scents to attract the insects which are instrumental in pollination. To perpetuate their kind, birds trill their melodious tones. A placid or melancholy bull with no interest in cows will have no interest for genealogy either, since with characteristics like these, its line will die out at once. The bull's sole purpose in life is to grow to sexual maturity and reproduce in order to propagate the race. It is rather like a relay race. Those that for one reason or another are unable to pass on their genes are continually discarded, and in that way the race is continually refined. Resistance to disease is one of the most important characteristics progressively accumulated and preserved in the variants that survive." "So everything gets better and better?" "The result of this continual selection is that the ones best adapted to a particular environment--or a particular ecological niche--will in the long term perpetuate the race in that environment. But what is an advantage in one environment is not necessarily an advantage in another. For some of the Galapagos finches, the ability to fly was vital. But being good at flying is not so necessary if food is dug from the ground and there are no predators. The reason why so many different animal species have arisen over the ages is precisely because of these many niches in the natural environment." "But even so, there is only one human race." "That's because man has a unique ability to adapt to different conditions of life. One of the things that amazed Darwin most was the way the Indians in Tierra del Fuego managed to live under such terrible climatic conditions. But that doesn't mean that all human beings are alike. Those who live near the equator have darker skins than people in the more northerly climes because their dark skin protects them from the sun. White people who expose themselves to the sun for long periods are more prone to skin cancer."" Source: Sophie's World -35-The Big Bang, quoted in: http://www.blogwind.com/nameless/
  • Two possible reasons. The first is selectivity - we draw the lines tightly round out own species, but more loosely around others. There are five species of ape (Gorillas, Humans, Oran Utans, Chimpanzees, Bonobos), but we choose to divide ourselves off from our cousins. There is only one species of Blue Whale, but we lump it in with dozens of very dissimilar species as "just" whales. Secondly, it may well be that we wiped out our closest relatives on our way to our current world dominance. The strongest competition for a species comes from those most like it, because they both want the same resources. Unless they can find different resource, by being in different areas or rapidly specialising in different foodstuffs, one will lose out to the other. Competing with a successful generalist is not a good strategy, and our sister species were probably the first (of many) that we drove to extinction
  • this is a question i have been asking for ages. I think that there are different human species just as there are different animal species, it doesnt make sense otherwise. i would also like to know if each separate animal species have the same eye colouring.
  • The question doesn't make sense. Humans ARE one of those "many different animal species". There are several human races that I would say are the same as sub-species. Just like there are many sub-species of house cat that can interbreed, there are many sub-species of humans that can interbreed. . There couldn't be more than one human species, or they wouldn't both be considered separate species.
  • There were different humanoid species before but they are all dead now.
  • We are different by race, color, creed and choice. There are variations within each specific species of animal too. Why? I don't know why exactly. Good question!
  • Different Species of the same genus can certainly interbreed. When two species interbreed it is called a Hybrid. For example, two species of roses, let's say Rosa Rugosa and Rosa Carolina, can be crossed (mated) and will produce a hybrid that belongs to neither species. In a mamillian example, domestic horses and mules bred together create a hybrid called a donkey. Horses can also be bred with zebras. Dogs can be bred with wolves. These are all different species interbreeding to create hybrids. We know that there were several different human species in the past, but I also believe there are different human species in existence today. However since classifying every living thing into different species has only occurred fairly recently in history and the fact that humans were not believed to be mere animals until later in the 20th Century all humans were lumped into one species. It should be noted that no human species in existence today is superior to any of the the others.
  • Isn't it enough?
  • Because if it was a different species it wouldn't be human any more..
  • Various subspecies were around (Neanderthals until 35,000(?) years or so ago, tiny hominids in Asia until 12,000(?) years ago. Competition or climate change probably did them in. Considering how American Indians, Australian Aborigines, and Africans were treated by Europeans, and other cases like Vietnamese looking down on the Hmong, even if other subspecies had survived in parts of the world until historical times, they probably would have been treated as animals and exterminated.
  • That's what the creation stated, isn't it. So, it's not surprising.

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