Video Transcript
A mule is an organism that is
produced when a female horse and a male donkey mate. Why is a mule not regarded as its
own species? (A) Because it will be placed in a
different genus than both of its parents. (B) Because each mule born will
look significantly different from other mules. (C) Because it will most likely be
infertile and unable to produce offspring. Or (D) this statement is incorrect;
mules are regarded as their own species.
In order to answer this question,
we need to clarify the term “species.”
In taxonomy, a species is defined
as a group of organisms with similar characteristics that can breed together to
produce fertile offspring. This means that the offspring
should also be able to produce its own offspring when crossed together. For example, domesticated dogs and
wolves are able to breed together to produce fertile offspring. Therefore, we could consider
domesticated dogs and wolves to be members of the same species. In fact, genetic analysis can be
used to establish the natural classification of dogs and wolves, which supports the
claim that they belong to the same species: Canis lupus.
In our question, a female horse and
a male donkey are mated together to produce an offspring called a mule. Mules are known to be infertile,
which means that they cannot be mated together to produce offspring. Fertility, or in other words the
ability to produce new offspring, is the important criteria that helps in
determining whether an organism is its own species or not. So the mule cannot be considered
its own species.
Note that this also means that the
parents of the mules, the horse and the donkey, are different species. When different species produce
offspring, this offspring is called a hybrid. And hybrids like mules are not
considered new species because they can’t produce offspring.
Therefore, the correct answer to
this question asking why a mule is not regarded as its own species is (C). A mule is not regarded as its own
species because it will most likely be infertile and unable to produce
offspring.
