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Cross breeding
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by Bobby123 on May 22, 2008
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Can anyone explain how cross breeding works? I cant understand why certian snakes can cross breed eg Puffies, Gaboons and Rhinos can be cross bred and have done so in the wild, but certian snakes eg white lips and purple mangroves have never cross bred as far as i know. Does this have to do with Chromosome count? I ask because i get asked the quetion alot and have no answer please help!!
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RE: Cross breeding
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by Crotalusssp on May 22, 2008
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There can be several reasons for crossbreeding not working. There can be behavioral differences, geographic barriers, and anatomical barriers (anatomical parts no longer "work" together) for example egg-laying snakes and live bearing snakes, and yes a different # of chromosomes will create a barrier as well. With number of chromosomes contained by a species, I have to admit I do not know if there is much, if any, of a range of different chromosomes numbers between species of snakes. The biological species concept states that a species is a group of individuals that can interbreed. This present a problem as you have stated because snakes of different species can and have interbred. When this happens in the wild that should be possibly considered positive for genetic diversity. I do not agree with it being induced in captivity for the creation "designer" snakes or whatever. Back to your original question, many times the DNA between 2 species is too evolutionarily different from one another to create viable offspring. Hope this helps in some way.
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RE: Cross breeding
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by GREGLONGHURST on May 22, 2008
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To further muddy the waters on an already cloudy issue, by definition, different genera cannot interbreed, yet, in snakes, they have. I believe I have seen some crosses between Lampropeltis & whatever they call the new Elaphe.
~~Greg~~
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RE: Cross breeding
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by Crotalusssp on May 22, 2008
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Yes that is true Lampropeltis and Pantherophis (Elaphe) have been crossed and create so called "jungle corns". I am pretty certain this is accomplished almost exclusively in captivity for many reasons.
Charles
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RE: Cross breeding
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by earthguy on May 22, 2008
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To elaborate one small point
At the molecular level it depends on whether the egg's recognition protein recognizes the protein coat of the sperm as 'friend' or 'foe'.
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RE: Cross breeding
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by Cro on May 22, 2008
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What Greg said about "by definition, different genera cannot interbreed, yet, in snakes, they have," makes me think that is time to change the definition that has been used for so many years.
Best Regards JohnZ
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