He is looking a bit nervous and indeed is wild for an imprint, but I suspect he'll come around shortly.
Update: Our friend Patrick "Terrierman" Burns asked some good questions about hybrids-- sometimes I take too much for granted. He asked among other things if the parental sex mattered, and if they made "natural" hybrids.
Generally it is thought that the parental sex matters, but both of mine had Gyr fathers and Saker mothers and favored different species.
The hybrid question is complex. "Real" hybrids of very different species-- the most popular are Gyr- Peregrines-- have reduced fertility (though not sterility) in the F1 generation.
Gyrs and Sakers, though, may be one species, imperfectly separated when the taiga forest came to split the Pleistocene "Mammoth Steppe". It is now known that there is a zone of natural hybridization in Asia in the Altai, the Tian Shan, and perhaps elsewhere. The evidence is there in the DNA, and some birds-- I should show one or two from Kazakhstan soon-- cannot reliably be assigned to either species.
Species recently separated from the Peregrine-- again, probably Pleistocene speciation-- like the Barbary falcon and even the African Taita, are similarly interfertile with the Peregrine.
Most other falcons are reduced in fertility when crossed with these groups, though I bet the Lanner, another "desert falcon, fits better with the Gyr types.
Birds of similar sizes will often mate if isolated, though of course stranger crosses like Gyr- Merlin (exciting but almost too- turbocharged birds) need AI.
Most hybrids are done with imprinted birds and AI because it is easier-- you might even fly the birds rather than confining them to breed.
12 comments:
Pretty bird! I wondered what it would look like. Can they look like either side, or do the favor the father or mother?
Also, are they fertile and will they mate (different questions and I mean this to address cultural aspects of birds).
Patrick
Good questions Patrick. Generally it is thought that the parental sex matters, but both of mine had Gyr fathers and Saker mothers and favored different species.
The hybrid question is complex. "Real" hybrids of very different species-- the most popular are Gyr- Peregrines-- have reduced fertility (though not sterility) in the F1.
Gyrs and Sakers, though, may be one species imperfectly separated when the taiga forest came to split the Pleistocene "Mammoth Steppe". It is now known that there is a zone of natural hybridization in Asia in the Altai, the Tian Shan, and perhaps elsewhere. The evidence is there in the DNA, and some birds-- I should show one or two from Kazakhstan-- cannot reliably be assigned to either species.
Species recently separated from the Peregrine-- again, probably Pleistocene speciation-- like the Barbary falcon and even the African Taita, are similarly interfertile with the Peregrine.
Most other falcons are reduced in fertility when crossed with these groups, though I bet the Lanner, another "desert falcon, fits better with the Gyr types.
Oh and-- most of similar sizes will mate if isolated, though of course stranger crosses like Gyr- Merlin (exciting but almost too- turbocharged birds) need AI.
Most hybrids are done with imprinted birds and AI because it is easier-- you might even fly the birds rather than confining them to breed.
Excellent! I just tripled my knowledge of falcon sex. A lot of bird species are maybe not. My favorite is the "Northern Spotted Owl" which is a Spotted Owl which freely interbreed with barred owls, no prison romance needed. The Northern Spotted Owl became the rallying cry for preserving forest (which I am always for), but it was pretty slippery science. I think a lot of folks did not know that, but if you did and pointed it out, you were not offered another cold beer if you know what I mean.
P
Think also Black duck and Mallard, Ruddy and White headed duck in Europe, and almost any member of the genus Canis. Or "ring species" like some northern gulls that hybridize all along a swath of the north where the ring breaks, or Ensatina salamanders that make a similar broken ring around the California mountains.
Many of these may still be valid species but the categories are more fragile and fluid than many assume!
Uhh-- make that "EXCEPT where the ring breaks".
Patrick:
Reproductive isolation is no longer necessary for species. This is a 1960's concept that has gone the way of the dinosaurs for systematists, although its still taught in biology classes since its easy to understand. These days we have about 20 working species concepts and most of us follow parts of a couple concepts.
Therese: peregrine tiercel? And how do you get to Phyloblog? (email ebodio at gilanet dot com.)
In my dealings with Gyr x Saker hybrids, I can attest to two things. First year birds have a bad disposition if thay were chamber birds...fear not however.. they come arround. Secondly..They hit game like a sledge hammer! Feather or Fur.
Anonymous, I think you are right. He is more defiant than fearful, and such birds seem to become quite tame. And he is already getting better.
Steve: yup, hes an imprint tiercel out of Brad Mitchell's project
Not falco but interesting:
http://www.aba.org/birding/v40n4p28.pdf
It seems that Steller's Sea Eagles and Bald Eagles occasionally interbreed.
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