DrBarry_McCockiner t1_jboc4kp wrote on March 10, 2023 at 2:14 PM

Reply to comment by Tsunnyjim in Human to Primate blood transfusion possible? by Lost-Wash-5521

as to the second part, there has been a lot of speculation on the possibility of a humanzee, human/chimp hybrid because our chromosome count differs by one, just like horses and donkeys.

Rather_Dashing t1_jcylf94 wrote on March 20, 2023 at 3:38 PM

Chromosome number is just one measure of compatibility and its not a particularly good one. Some species have wildly different chromosome numbers within the same species and yet breed fine. Plenty of pairs of species with the same number of chromosomes can't breed.

All you can really say is that chromosomal number differences and rearrangements tends to reduce the fitness of offspring and reduces the likelihood of fertile offspring.

DrBarry_McCockiner t1_jcyt2z8 wrote on March 20, 2023 at 4:28 PM

true enough, although it is a bit simplistic to say "Plenty of pairs of species with the same number of chromosomes can't breed" Generally if they are in the same genus and often the same family and have the same number of chromosome pairs, they can have offspring. Obviously, a reptile and a mammal with the same number of chromosomes will not be able to have offspring.