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1. pbhjpbhj · 1789747153 · focus · HN ↗

   Did I miss where they said the basis on which they judged it to be a different species?

   Presumably DNA differences - would have been nice to see something about that.

   There's mention of wildcats interbreeding with house cats, so presumably ability to cross-breed isn't part of the "new species" calculation?

   1. technothrasher · 1789750618 · focus · HN ↗

      > so presumably ability to cross-breed isn't part of the "new species" calculation?

      Considering people have interbred jaguars and leopards, and then interbred the female cubs with lions to get a lijagulep, I'm not sure cross-breeding is the gold standard of speciation that gets sold as such in school.

      The greatest threat to some of these cat species (the Scottish Wildcat being a prime example) is loss of genetic differentiation through interbreeding with domestic cats.

      1. [deleted] · 1789755152 · focus · HN ↗

         [deleted]

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