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Asked by ximwithstupidx to Ed, Katie, Sam, Steve, Vera on 15 Jun 2011.
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Steven Daly answered on 14 Jun 2011:
Not species so different as an elephant and a lion, no. However closely related species can be attracted to each other. For example, tigers and lions have been known to mate, and can have babies. These are known as Ligers, I think.
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Sam Tazzyman answered on 14 Jun 2011:
Another example of this is when a male donkey and a female horse mate, to make a mule. The offspring from two different species is called a “hybrid”. Depending on the species in question, hybrids can sometimes be infertile (meaning they can’t have babies) or even can die very young. But in some species they can be just fine.
In the natural world, if you have two species that are found in different places, but their geographical ranges overlap, you often get what is called a “hybrid zone” between them, where hybrids are found. This means that genes from one species can cross over to the other species through the hybrids.
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Katie Marriott answered on 14 Jun 2011:
This is definitely not my area but I would say probably not!
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Vera Weisbecker answered on 14 Jun 2011:
Well, not so sure whether this only happens in closely related pecies…I know quite a few dogs that show a pretty obvious attraction to humans (or rather, their legs, maybe?).
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Ed Morrison answered on 15 Jun 2011:
Sometimes, if the species are closely related and there are peculiar circumstances. There have been experiments with great tits and blue tits (common birds you can see in your garden). If you swap their eggs over so the great tits are raised by the blue tits, they grow up being attracted to blue tits and they try to mate with them.
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