There’s also some anthropocentric assumptions in that article. It refers to the two species’ mating as a mistake multiple times. But horizontal gene transfer, while resulting in higher mortalities of offspring, also has the potential to combine unique evolutionary solutions from different lineages into a single species. Just because it’s atypical doesn’t mean it’s a mistake.
TIL there were green jays.
The rest of it is also interesting
There’s also some anthropocentric assumptions in that article. It refers to the two species’ mating as a mistake multiple times. But horizontal gene transfer, while resulting in higher mortalities of offspring, also has the potential to combine unique evolutionary solutions from different lineages into a single species. Just because it’s atypical doesn’t mean it’s a mistake.