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The rise of a new species of finch has been observed on a Galapagos island:
A population of finches on the Galapagos has been discovered in the process of becoming a new species.
This is the first example of speciation that scientists have been able to observe directly in the field.
Researchers followed the entire population of finches on a tiny Galapagos island called Daphne Major, for many years, and so they were able to watch the speciation in progress.
The research was published in the journal Science [DOI: 10.1126/science.aao4593] [DX].
Also at BGR and Phys.org (heavy on comments).
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New Species of Finch Develops in Two Generations
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(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday November 26 2017, @06:58AM (2 children)
Which means random genetic variations accumulation till the individual can only breed with his genetic pals is the key to evolution, right? which means no god creates species, right? wrong, because the hypothetical god resides out of time, which means that "creating a thing that evolves to X" and "creating X" is the same concept.
Cue the shifting goalpost comment, cue the a logic invalidation of the question itself is not shifting goalposts, especially when people enunciate it before the goalpost needs to be shifted.
Hope to spare you a long fruitless debate with the above. But it always crops up with you meatbags. You are very chatty.
JK, apparently since I learned about Darwin theory, scientists have redefined the concept of species. It used to be that a species could not make fertile hybrids with another species by definition. TFS says a bird alone got in an island and formed his own colony of similar birds. More than speciation I'd call it "Sorry I only date white men" syndrome.
The summary is very light on detail, maybe to avoid making the same joke?
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(Score: 5, Informative) by Arik on Sunday November 26 2017, @07:46AM (1 child)
That's pretty close, but in fact if there is a natural barrier to reproduction that's enough, it doesn't have to be hybrid infertility among the offspring. Wolves and domesticated dogs, for example, are still (usually) considered different species, even though they *can* be mated and produce fertile offspring, because they just don't. The mating signals and timing don't match at all, human intervention, or perhaps some sort of extremely unusual freak occurrence, is required to making it happen.
Seems the birds they are talking about are a very similar case. Genetically the sperm and egg are still obviously compatible, but their mating behavior is not. The hybrid even appears to have been some sort of a freak accident which has not repeated and is not expected to repeat. Their mating song and then mating song of the native species are not compatible, therefore they do not mate.
It's worth noting that even with species who regularly produce infertile hybrids, there are still rare exceptions. Fertile mule mares have been known since ancient times - rare but not completely unheard of.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Bot on Sunday November 26 2017, @09:16AM
"The hybrid even appears to have been some sort of a freak accident"
> be bird
> stranded away from home island
> time passes
> no hands so can't fap (that's why birds move always in a nervous way, forget about the BS about evading predators)
> a wild, somewhat familiar, female bird appears!
freak accident, indeed...
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