There is a concept in biology, called reproductive isolation, which means that it is difficult for different species to have "love" beyond "friendship", and even if it happens, it will not be cultivated into a positive result, only some crooked dates will be cultivated. For example, the famous horses and donkeys will give birth to mules, lions and tigers, lions and tigers, lions and tigers, humans and chimpanzees - well, this is not possible, in short, even if they survive, they will not give birth again.
However, in Pennsylvania, the United States, there is a strange yellow, black and white feathered suspected warbler bird, after scientists with DNA research, found that it has far surpassed the love of different species, and even the love crystallization of 3 species of birds of different genera.
The bird was discovered in May by birding enthusiast Lowell Burkitt, who noticed that the male was wearing a strange "dress" that featured both a blue-winged warbler and a gold-winged warbler, although it also appeared to have worn the "clothes" of the chestnut warbler. Burkett took a photo and video of it and sent it to cornell University's Fuller Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology. In order to keep the scientists from seeing him as a madman, he also paid great attention to the wording when he wrote to make himself look like an intellectual.
Scientists do whimsical things every day, certainly not thinking of him as crazy, and lab researcher David Toth soon found Burkitt, went with him to find the bird, and managed to collect a sample of its blood.
The results showed that the bird beaters did discover something novel. The bird's mom and dad come from three different species, even different genera. DNA analysis showed that the bird's mother was the product of a gold-winged warbler and a blue-winged warbler, and "she" once again had an affair with a chestnut warbler, giving birth to a yellow-and-white "he". The gold-winged warbler and the blue-winged warbler belong to the same genus of insect warblers, while the chestnut-winged forest warbler belongs to the genus Orange-tailed Warbler. We know that horses and donkeys still belong to the genus of horses after all, and lions and tigers also belong to the same genus of leopards, and it is indeed difficult to understand that love has occurred between animals of these different genera.
Researchers believe that the "love" of goldfinch and blue-winged warbler is relatively common, especially the number of goldfinches is declining sharply, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a suitable companion of the same species; and the "love" with the chestnut warbler is extremely rare, and scientists have never found such a record. The researchers believe that this shows that warblers are genetically compatible despite evolving different appearances.
It seems that as the habitat continues to decrease, the animals are also adjusting to the troubles and troubles caused by the shrinking population, and the gold-winged warbler first "marries" the blue-winged warbler, and then falls in love with the "commoner" chestnut warbler, and finally gives birth to a new mixed-race bird that cannot be named. When all the forests and grasslands are gradually disappearing, there may be more helplessness in the future, more super-species "love", waiting for every member of the animal world.
The study was published in Biology Letters on Nov. 7.