31–38 of 38 posts
>“We think it’s the first observed vertebrate that’s hybridized as a result of two species both expanding their ranges due, at least in part, to climate change,” said Brian Stokes When all you have is a hammer…
That's not snappy enough for the Onion really.
>“We think it’s the first observed vertebrate that’s hybridized as a result of two species both expanding their ranges due, at least in part, to climate change,” said Brian Stokes When all you have is a hammer…
More like: "HN Commenter Shocked To Discover Climate Change Changes Lots Of Things" That's not snappy enough for the Onion really.
For example, believe climate change is quite real but have a poor intuition for its scale and timeline, which is why I am extra skeptical about the claim that these specific habitat changes are caused by climate change, and wonder what other factors may come into play. (I have the same reaction to climate events - if sloppy thinkers claim heat waves are evidence for climate change, then equally sloppy thinkers on the other side can claim cold snaps are evidence against. Both are wrong, and waste our time.)
Authors should speculate about alternative causal chains even if they eventually discard them. This builds trust. Unfortunately this good behavior is associated with climate change denialism, and so those who admit its reality simply don't offer an alternative even when the complexity of the situation is extremely high. The result, ironically, is just more badvocacy on both sides, more noise in the infospace, which ultimately means the "do nothing" side wins.
green jay looks more like a hybrid than the actual hybrid the post is about...
It will be interesting to learn if the hybrids are fertile or not
They seem to think so in this article https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2025/10/21/blue-jay-green-ja...
>So, you know, it's theoretically possible, but we haven't seen the evidence of that yet.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How did they only mate now? A lot of the differences between species is due to behavior issues, not actual physical difficulty. It's likely that both species of jay mate at different times or display different mating signals. They've been separated for something like 75 million years which leaves plenty of time for their behaviors to change.
> They've been separated for something like 75 million years That sounds very, very wrong on the biological timescale.
It is a grue jay only if it will devour you in the dark. It seems we have failed to properly educate our children. It is ignorance like this this makes me believe that civilization is doomed. But we only have ourselves to blame
Why would it devour you in the dark?
> the range of blue jays, a temperate bird living all across the Eastern U.S., only extended about as far west as Houston. They I get why the green jay’s habitat would have expanded northward (from more tropical areas) in a warming climate, but I don’t get why the blue jay’s habitat would have expanded west of Houston. Like many places, central Texas is warmer than it used to be, and maybe drier, but I wouldn’t think…
A gray jay sounds about right. I get that the changing weather might change their habitual latitudes but there was and is always some "boundary" between the two, no? So there was always a boundary but it moves north or south depending on warming or cooling climates (these birds have been around for millions of years). How did they only mate now?
(They have been renamed to "Canada Jay," but that's a hilarious story for another day)