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tomzep

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BOF

Stephen Fry has called for a boycott of the Sochi Olympics and yet it hasn't happened

Has he lost his title as world most influential man ? or is everybody to busy jumping on the Neknomination bandwagon instead ?

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  • 2 years later...

Can birds (meaning the feathered variety) cross breed? If so why don't we see any mixes of say Starlings and Thrushes (using commonly seen local birds as an example)???

Genuinely interested in knowing the answer!

There could be some excellent feathered mash-ups!!!!!

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Just now, theboyangel said:

Can birds (meaning the feathered variety) cross breed? If so why don't we see any mixes of say Starlings and Thrushes (using commonly seen local birds as an example)???

Genuinely interested in knowing the answer!

There could be some excellent feathered mash-ups!!!!!

That's weird - I was pondering that very thing only this morning. I would have thought that some bird species would be a pretty close DNA match, and that it would be possible. Maybe they just don't fancy each other? Or they're bigoted? 

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1 minute ago, mjmooney said:

That's weird - I was pondering that very thing only this morning. I would have thought that some bird species would be a pretty close DNA match, and that it would be possible. Maybe they just don't fancy each other? Or they're bigoted? 

I have just read that it is possible within the same 'genus' but alas we will never see a Peregrine Falcon/Canary combo....

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What ever happened to that other great thread of times gone by - I think it was called 'and in today's news' or similar?

IIRC it was basically just a good excuse to take the piss out of you about your love of tin cans (Alfa's) :P

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1 hour ago, theboyangel said:

Can birds (meaning the feathered variety) cross breed? If so why don't we see any mixes of say Starlings and Thrushes (using commonly seen local birds as an example)???

Genuinely interested in knowing the answer!

There could be some excellent feathered mash-ups!!!!!

Not to answer on BOF's behalf, but the majority of birds are distinct species and therefore unable to cross breed (the same reason that humans and chimps can't have viable offspring). As mentioned below it does occur within species of the same genus, particularly with wildfowl and raptors. A lot of birds bred for professional falconry are  hybrids.

 

It tends to occur in nature where one species has been introduced into a new environment, and can be very controversial. A recent example is the ruddy duck, which was introduced to the UK from America, but was found to cross breed with the rare white-headed duck (an endangered species in southern and Central Europe). The result was a government sanctioned cull of ruddy ducks in the UK over the past 10 years. A shame, because they're lovely things.

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14 minutes ago, Phumfeinz said:

Bof hasn't answered any questions for coming up to 3 years now, I call for a permanent ban.

I don't think there's any suggestion at the start of the thread that @BOF will actually provide answers. This is a thread to ask him questions, not necessarily get answers. Think of it like praying.

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