Posted: Apr 26, 2017 10:25 am
zulumoose wrote:I am quite naive in these things, but isn't the defining point of the species barrier the inability to interbreed and have fertile offspring?
How is this determined from fossils alone, wouldn't aged fossils of modern dogs or even humans show enough variation such that they would be determined by the same limited means of investigation to be different species instead of races or breeds of the same species?
Fair point, I think. I wasn't using the term "species" in such a strict sense here. If I understand correctly, it is still an open question whether there was interbreeding between H. sapiens and H. neanderthalis.