Hybrids, Hybrids, Everywhere

And I'm not talking about the cars

Hiya!

It’s a little ironic to me that we’re living during such a divided time, yet division is the exact opposite of what we need to thrive as a species. Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting we all sit around a fire with a talking stick and hash out our feelings with groups we clash with. Life is intimately complex, with no easy solutions.

Still, diversity is good for us. If we could shift our focus for one moment away from shunning our differences toward sharing them, opportunities would never cease. Nature herself knows this, which is why diversity is everywhere you look in all layers of life, going back to the known beginning of life on Earth. And what helps spur diversity? Hybrids.

Importance of Diversity

Before we get to the science-y bits, I gotta dive into this for a moment. We’re better — stronger, physically and mentally healthier, are more innovative, creative, and thoughtful — when we embrace diversity. There are so many reasons diversity is good for us that it’s actually astounding that humans can’t seem to help but segregate ourselves into smaller and smaller categories — countries, genders, religions, sexualities, zodiac signs, etc.

I suppose that’s the counter-effect of our need for community. If some people are “in” a club, then others must be left “out.” Still, we could be better about how we go about choosing which communities to belong to and the way we treat those outside of them.

Anyway, diversity is wonderful for ecosystems of all sizes, from the bacteria in our guts to the Amazon rainforest. It allows for an abundance of mixing and matching, giving and taking, building and growing in new directions. Without it, we’re stuck — no new ideas, dreams, or accomplishments — we just repeat the same things again and again and again. (Don’t we all feel a little deja vu about the conflicts we face today?)

Of all the benefits of diversity, there is one specific and significant incentive for hybrids to occur in nature — survival — even though not all hybrid combinations work out. Often the result of combining a grabbag of traits from each parent species isn’t exactly advantageous. Most are lucky to survive at all.

But sometimes, the offspring gets the best of both parents’ genetic mixtures, creating a species superior to either parent’s. One with evolutionary innovation and excellent adaptability to overcome various challenges. Not just in terms of the environment but also health and longevity.

Diversity and hybridization are everywhere we look in nature. There’s so much that we’re nowhere near capable of analyzing all the forms it takes throughout our planet. But we know it happens on about every layer of life — there are even hybrid particles. I’m not zooming in on the quantum world today, though. Instead, I want to talk about hybrid animals, including us.