male of female?

manders · Snr Member Joined: Mar 26, 2010 Posts: 120

Dave, i have a strong suspicion that the majority of birds in the uk have hybrid genes, many breeders dont seem to segregate the species and every time i see birds at shows or in pet shops theres allmost allways signs of hybridisation both in yellows and reds. After a few generations visible signs may be completely absent but they can still be of hybrid origin.

Another slant on this is if you read descriptions of kakariki from the 1800's its seems fairly clear that hybrids in the wild have allways existed, so maybe all kakariki have a degree of hybridisation somewhere in the past.

A bit like red dear in the uk which some people believe are now entirely of hybrid origin ( with sika's ).

I sometimes think people worry too much about hybridisation in the wild, if hybrid kakariki were better at survival, they would likely form a new species and expand their range, evolution at work. If theyre less good at surviving the hybrids die out or are diluted out of existence by the red or yellows. I think this has allready happened on an offshore island? were the reds have taken over from the yellows by hybridisation and interbreeding, but they are still labelled as reds as thats what they look like. 'If it walks and quacks like a duck, its probably a duck'.

Even eurasian humans are of distant hybrid origin, but all humans are labelled as the same species. Evolution never stays static.