A bird hybrid is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

that has two different

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

as parents. The resulting bird can present with any combination of characteristics from the parent species, from totally identical to completely different. Usually, the bird hybrid shows intermediate characteristics between the two species. A "successful" hybrid is one demonstrated to produce fertile offspring. According to the most recent estimates, about 16% of all wild bird species have been known to hybridize with one another; this number increases to 22% when captive hybrids are taken into account. Several bird species hybridize with multiple other species. For example, the

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

(''Anas platyrhynchos'') is known to interbreed with at least 40 different species. The ecological and evolutionary consequences of multispecies hybridization remain to be determined. In the wild, some of the most frequently reported hybrids are

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

gulls Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and Skimmer (bird), skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gul ...

hummingbirds Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

, and

birds-of-paradise The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Australia. The family has 45 species in 17 genera. The members of this ...

. Mallards, whether of wild or domestic origin, hybridize with other ducks so often that multiple duck species are at risk of

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

because of it. In gulls, Western × Glaucous-winged Gulls (known as "Olympic Gulls") are particularly common; these hybrids are fertile and may be more evolutionarily fit than either parent species. At least twenty different hummingbird hybrid combinations have been reported, and intergeneric hybrids are not uncommon within the family. Wood-warblers are known to hybridize as well, and an unusual three-species warbler hybrid was discovered in May 2018. Hybridisation in shorebirds is unusual but reliably recorded. Numerous gamebird, domestic fowl and duck hybrids are known. Captive songbird hybrids are sometimes called mules. Numerous hybrid macaws exist in aviculture and occasionally occur in the wild. Some of these hybrid parrots are fertile with both the parent species and other hybrids. The scientific literature on hybridization in birds has been collected at the Avian Hybrids Project. The reality of bird hybrids also calls into question modern definitions of the word "species". Throughout literature, there tends to be a general vagueness regarding the word "species" and how it should be defined. Birds serve as an excellent example of this fluidity due to the remarkable cross-breeding opportunities.

Examples of hybrid birds

File:Hybrid goose.jpg, An intergeneric hybrid between

Canada goose The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), sometimes called Canadian goose, is a large species of goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North A ...

(''Branta canadensis'') and domestic goose (''Anser anser domesticus'') File:Goldfinch_Canary_hybrid.JPG, A

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

, a hybrid between

domestic canary The domestic canary (''Serinus canaria'' forma ''domestica''), often simply known as the canary, is a domesticated form of the wild canary, a small songbird in the finch family originating in the Macaronesian Islands. Over the past 500 years ...

and goldfinch File:Cockatoo hybrid -Flying High Bird Habitat, Australia-8a.jpg, A probable

galah The galah (; ''Eolophus roseicapilla''), less commonly known as the pink and grey cockatoo or rose-breasted cockatoo, is an Australian species of cockatoo and the only member of the genus ''Eolophus''. The galah is adapted to a wide variety of m ...

× little corella intergeneric hybrid File:amherstxgolden.jpg, Lady Amherst's pheasant ×

golden pheasant The golden pheasant (''Chrysolophus pictus''), also known as the Chinese pheasant, and rainbow pheasant, is a gamebird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). The genus name is from Ancient Greek ' ...

Image:blackxhazel.jpg, Hybrid pheasant (left) and hybrid of black grouse × hazel grouse (right) File:Mulards.png,

Mulard The mulard (or moulard) is a Hybrid (biology), hybrid between two different genera of domestic duck: the Domestic Muscovy duck (derived from the Muscovy duck ''Cairina moschata'') and the domestic duck (derived from the mallard ''Anas platyrhyn ...

s, hybrids between a

domestic Muscovy duck The Muscovy or Barbary is the domestic form of the wild Muscovy duck, ''Cairina moschata''. There are a number of local or regional breeds, and drakes of these are commonly cross-bred with mallard-derived domestic ducks to produce the hybrids ...

and a wild-type

References

External links

* Bird Hybrids Database
Bird Hybrids Mailing List
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird Hybrid Hybridisation in birds Intergeneric hybrids

Examples of hybrid birds

See also

References

External links