Among Hybrid Animals

Last week, National Geographic News published an article about recent research and findings that sex between animals of different species is widespread and may spawn many new species (!?!??!).

This process is called hybrid speciation: Two animal species can mate to produce a third species that is capable of reproduction. This third species will then mate with either one of the other species and pass on its genes, producing more hybrids.

Reading further into this article, it seems "different species" referred to same kind of animals but of different errr... how to word this... like in the article butterflies with yellow markings are one species and butterflies with red markings are a different species and these two species mate to produce the third species with both red and yellow markings. It is not as drastic as a dog and a cat mating... phew! Newly identified examples are insects and fishes.

Source: National Geographic News "Interspecies Sex: Evolution's Hidden Secret?"

So errr... word of the day: Hybrid Speciation