A baby giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) peers over a fence. The species name of the giraffe comes from a mixing of "camel" and "leopard," giraffes exhibiting a body shape similar to a camel but the spots of a leopard. This sort of nomenclature also has its root in older, long discarded beliefs that some species could be made via unnatural matings between existing species. How a leopard would be able to successfully get a camel in the mood, though, I wouldn't hazard a guess.
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tags: researchblogging.org, giraffe species, Giraffa camelopardalis, speciation, evolution, conservation, molecular phylogeny
West African giraffe, currently Giraffa camelopardalis peralta.
Image: Wikipedia (Creative Commons) [larger view]
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The basis for the story is that in Africa, where things are very hot, all animals much mingle at the waterhole at sunset, and so they will occasionally mate, forming hybrids. You'll find the story in the History of Animals by Aristotle, and in Pliny some 5 centuries later. In the middle ages the story was widespread via Pliny, especially in the bestiaries, which were moral sermons using beasts as Aesopian hooks.
What makes you think it was the leopard who initiated the bonking? :)
I was once propositioned by an adolescent cat. She was about 6 months, I was 15. She was in heat. I was there, male, and that absolutely marvelous, wonderful creature known as a human. It was a match made in heaven, but for one hitch, a great disparity in size.
It's been noted that evolution is a conservative process, reusing material for new purposes. If certain hormones, pheromones, and scents worked fine for Tiktaalik, then they'll work fine for felidae, canidae, and hominids. With a few changes of course, but not so many that wolves and coyotes won't find each other appealing under the right conditions.
Creationists say non-humans bond with us because God said we were to have dominion over the animals. It's far more likely that we and non-human animals bond because we both produce pheromones the other can, well, understand. When a rhino sends out his particular brand of friendship pheromones, we understand and respond in kind. And that is how a very young cat can come to see a teenaged human as a desirable mate, or a horny, lonely, sexually frustrated female camel just might welcome the advances of a horny, lonely, sexually frustrated male leopard.
Though beer goggles help a lot.