Are Species a real thing? It may surprise you to hear.... NOPE!

It's funny, i was just explaining to someone the other day that "species" was actually a very uncertain, artificial term and now here's a pHD student backing me up!
Essentially, there is no consistent way of defining a species which can accurately represent the different circumstances of various organisms past and present. You might think that a species is just a group of organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring...but lions and tigers can do that even though we consider them separate species.
Find out more in the video if you're interested!

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tduwq0I4lYw&ab_channel=GutsickGibbon]

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ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M

It's a convenient guideline. Like all science, always open to revision when confronted with new empirical data.

Pikachu

@ChipmunkErnie

Yes exactly: it's convenient.
We like to categorize things and naming species allows us to do that even if it's not actually a delineation which exists in nature.

ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M

@Pikachu Weird how it's controversial when the definition is so simple: A species is a group of loving things that can naturally interbreed and have fertile offspring. You wouldn't think that would be so "iffY'.

Pikachu

@ChipmunkErnie

Well that's the problem. That definition cannot be consistently applied.