Comments on: Nile crocodile is actually two species (and the Egyptians knew it) http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/14/nile-crocodile-is-actually-two-species-and-the-egyptians-knew-it/ A science salon hosted by National Geographic Magazine Tue, 21 May 2013 16:11:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.2-alpha By: Jerzy http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/14/nile-crocodile-is-actually-two-species-and-the-egyptians-knew-it/#comment-13099 Jerzy Sun, 18 Sep 2011 01:20:52 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5362#comment-13099 Two Nile Crocs are different, but do they hybridize at contact zone or not? Actually, different American Crocodylus species hybridize easily in captivity, so why to call C. niloticus and suchus species?

This is actually going to be a more common problem in zoology. Because wildlife disappears, what was a continous, mixing animal population is chopped into inbred, relict populations. These groups appear different, but this is artifact, because you don’t see full range of intermediates.

The same is with cape and forest buffalos. In zoos they look different, but in Africa there is a full range of intermediate buffalo populations.

Also, similar thing happened naturally with brown bears. There are genetically separate populations in North America. Originally people tried to give them conservation status. Then a study of ice age bear DNA showed that these separate lines coexisted in one population in thre Ice Age.

]]> By: Ryan http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/14/nile-crocodile-is-actually-two-species-and-the-egyptians-knew-it/#comment-13098 Ryan Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:44:35 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5362#comment-13098 Very interesting article, including the natural and political ramifications of this study. Thank you for sharing.

]]> By: Ed Yong http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/14/nile-crocodile-is-actually-two-species-and-the-egyptians-knew-it/#comment-13097 Ed Yong Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:42:18 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5362#comment-13097 @Matthias – Thanks! Fixed Herodotus. No info about hybrids yet. I’m not sure that we should assume that they could hybridise at all. They share 96% of their genomes – that’s not far off from the human-chimp difference.

]]> By: Matthias http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/14/nile-crocodile-is-actually-two-species-and-the-egyptians-knew-it/#comment-13096 Matthias Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:32:08 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5362#comment-13096 Hi Ed,

fantastic story and interview! Do you know anything about hybrids between the two species? I imagine that at least in some zoos around the world they must have had them mixed together without realizing it.

Best, Matthias

(Oh, and in case you care for typo hints, you misspelled Herodotus twice in the transcript.)

]]> By: Virgil Cottongim http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/14/nile-crocodile-is-actually-two-species-and-the-egyptians-knew-it/#comment-13095 Virgil Cottongim Thu, 15 Sep 2011 01:58:51 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5362#comment-13095 Ed Yong,
Does your scientific study go toward the behavior and eating habits of these animals? Would you be open to discussion in this area by someone who has done a 10 year in the wild study?
If yes, please contact me with your expectations.

]]>