I believe that, for the sake of conservation, the scientific community should just classify the dwarf manatee as a species so that protections are put in place to preserve the population. If a stable population is established and maintained, then they can reclassify but time is ticking for those little guys.
Regardless of whether the dwarf manatees are genetically distinct from standard manatees they are undeniably FUNCTIONALLY distinct. You could not simply have them switch places with each other. If one type dies out, the other type would not be suitably adapted if introduced to the other's range for replacing the lost population (in either direction).
Mysterious Animals Are my favorite honestly. Edit: As a Brazilian,i had NEVER known of the Dwarf Manatee,or its situation. It is So interesting to learn about this.
I love disputed species, as someone who’s into paleontology my favorite dinosaur growing up has always been the Troodon, though recently their validity as a species has been disputed due to the holotype and they’re now a nomen dubium. This manatee situation is really interesting to me since I knew about the mammoth dwarfism thing, but I had no clue that there was even a modern day example of such a thing! Also bonus thingy, I will be pitching an idea for a 30 second animated short film and it’s heavily based on your content! It will be based on the extinction of the passenger pigeon, and we start pitching in January, fingers crossed it gets selected. Would like to include you in the credits for inspiration; I also have planned narration for it if you’re interested. If you’d like updates let me know!
Love this topic and that we are learning so much about them even in modern times. Manatees are my favorite animal so I especially enjoyed the last part of your video.
I googled moonrats and while they are black & white the distribution of the colors is different. Some of them are fully white. I´m not convinced it´s the moonrat.
The andean wolf definitely seems unlikely. After all, pelts of three similar-looking german shepherds could conceivably have been obtained by someone wanting to scam someone else, and surely a wild canid of such size and distinct coloration would be something that many locals would have stories and knowledge of. The other two examples seem more likely, with shrews being so secretive, and the manatee simply being a question of if it should be considered a separate species or not. There's a rare caiman population that is similarly debated, as it has a distinct coloration and very thin snout compared to other caimans, but its genetics are pretty much identical to the spectacled caiman.
with the given estimate's it's unlikely to be a german shepherd a german shepherd is 91-108 cm in length the ears also seem too small and german shepherd's don't have mane's like that. If it's a different species it's probably already extinct and those coat's being from some of the last killed around that time
@neko0my0cat then why are there no accounts of living or intact specimens? What drove it to extinction when there is no sign of large scale or sustained hunting? And why is it hair not distinguishable from a domestic dog? Recall if it did exist, it should be quite distinct from the Canis genus, just like other South American canids.
@@Ryodraco99% of people (including local residents) have no idea of the short-eared dog's existence and that's an _extant_ Cerdocyonid. Similar situation with the bush dogs which were thought to be extinct for many years when initially discovered through fossils! Though they're a little better known. I say this because you've obviously never been to a jungle _let alone_ the Amazon... When you have a large mountain range which has high elevations/unforgiving terrain and is sparsely populated.. add to that it's surrounded by thick & nearly impenetrable jungle which is also sparsely populated outside of a few cities? 🤔 After considering a small population numbers and an elusive nature, it is _very possible_ if not probable that there are other Cerdocyonid canines not known to western science in the Amazon/Peruvian Andes 💯👍
@@RyodracoAlso, I'm pretty sure most people _let alone_ a biologist would be able to recognize one of the most popular & well-known dog breeds (which the pelt looks nothing like) And what would be the odds of having *3 identical* highly abberant German shepherds? A one-off maybe but 3? I don't buy that...
@@Ryodraco i would like to do more research on the other topics but comparison of the german shepherd hair is quite interesting the study: Dieterlen, Fritz: Über den Haarbau des Andenwolfes, Dasycyon hagenbecki (Krumbiegel, 1949). In: Säugetierkundliche Mitteilungen vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 26--31. January 1, 1954. i couldn't find it online (it might be in the Hamburg State and University Library Carl von Ossietzky) but i could find this: Dass Zweifel ausgeschlossen sind, konnte eine vergleichende Haarprobenanalyse durch Fritz Dieterlen so nicht bestätigen. Er verglich die Haarstruktur des „Andenwolfes“ mit jenen von Mähnenwolf, Magellanfuchs und Schäferhund und gelang zu uneindeutigen Ergebnissen. In gewissen Aspekten ähnelten sich hier Andenwolf und Schäferhund am stärksten, doch auch Abweichungen waren zu beobachten. and this quote in the same article from fritz dieterlen: „Die Untersuchung bringt somit kein eindeutiges Ergebnis. Sie bestätigt in gewisser Weise die systematische Selbstständigkeit der untersuchten Arten, mit der Einschränkung, daß vielleicht zwischen Andenwolf und Schäferhund engere Bindungen bestehen als sonst innerhalb der übrigen hier behandelten. Ferner ergibt sich, daß wohl nur ein groß angelegtes Haarstudium aller Caniden-Arten der Welt eines Haarbaumerkmals für die systematische Beurteilung eines Trägers herauszuschälen vermag.“ long story short it's not a match just the one that was the closest to it.
I love learning about mystery species too! Even with species like Bigfoot, that I don't believe to be real, finding out they actually are real would be super exciting for me. I like to think there are still a lot of mysteries to solve.
The dwarf manatees should receive their own classification just for the sake of protecting their population which would be considered critically endangered if they are a unique species‼️ If we end up finding them not to be unique or just a subspecies later on, then we can always fix their classification... However, _if they are_ a unique species and we let them be extirpated? That loss to our planet's biodiversity can *_never_* be undone 💯
I think the claim of Marc van Roosmalen sounds actually the most likely in comparison of the others because Marc is a very well known biologist who has a very credible reputation. He could be wrong, but this isn't a person who would try to scam or who hasn't have enough knowlidge to conclude things. He even has photo's of the animal. It's also in a part in the Amazon that's not been visited by others with knowlidge besides these local tribesmen, so it's likely it's understudied. It's maybe not a very old species or even a subspecies, but it looks like in a proces of becoming more and more a new species and it also looks like it also has a niche to forfill in the found different environment. I think these animals should be studied more just to discover more about them.
There is also this bear called MacFarlane's bear which is a disputed species and there is also one unproven variation of tiger called Maltese tiger. Another disputed species would be jba fofi of congo rainforest which tribals say are gigantic rare spiders. It can be some huge species of tarantula that can reach 2 feet in legspan.
Maltese tiger is a color morph, not a disputed species. There have been reputable eyewitness accounts of it in the past, but more than likely the genetics are gone due to how endangered tigers in general have become. Basically if it exists (or existed) it's a blue-grey tiger in the same vein of blue (aka grey) cats, as opposed to the typical orange. I find the idea fascinating mostly because of just how weird and rare the genetics involved would be, because to get even a somewhat blue tiger, you've got to start with either a melanistic or pseudo-melanistic tiger, and then add dilution either to the base coat, the stripes, or both. Since there are no known fully melanistic tigers, you might additionally need the tiger to be a white pseudo-melanistic tiger. But the Maltese tiger likely was melanistic with either dilution (which could be a common gene and we wouldn't know it if it only affected black rather than orange coats) or a ticking effect similar to silver foxes. Basically the starting point to get to a Maltese tiger is already a rare tiger, although unless some underlying genetic illness affected them, they probably had a better survival rate than white tigers (and might even have had advantages over the orange ones). The Maltese tiger was, as far as I know, only ever seen in the early 1900s in Southern China, where tigers are extinct. So, that color morph would be gone along with whatever genes or mutations caused it.
Another episode in the Saga, would you please do invalid taxa as a topic next time? (It is very common with extinct species, such as Monoclonius, Agathaumas, Ultrasauros, etc..)
Stories about European scientists, specifically german scientists, on the verge of discovering a new and fascinating species right at the crisp of 1940 never go the way we want 😞
Plethodon ainsworthi, ainsworth's salamander is an example of this. It's considered extinct, but some scientists think the specimens are just misidentified Plethodon mississippi. They've never been able to get DNA from the existing specimens so far so we may never know for certain the truth of these salamanders.
Video suggestion! Could you maybe talk about the Diamond Darter? It has a interesting story and there’s probably a lot more animals with similar stories, thought to be extinct then found somewhere else.
great video! i really enjoyed all the fascinating details you shared about these unique species. that said, i can’t help but wonder if the debate around their classifications is a bit exaggerated. like, do we need to label every minor variation as a separate species? it feels like it might complicate conservation efforts more than help them. what do you think?
Three more disputed critters ! The jetete flamingo (very little information unfortunately) The Mekong freshwater seahorse (Hippocampus aimei , however the specimens were similar to Hippocampus barbouri so they became synonymous) The Deepstar 4000 fish ( a huge fish observed by reliable researchers in 1967) Also some of Beebes fish , fish he saw when descending to great depths in his bathysphere.
The case of the mysterious Andean wolf is interesting, since some Inca myths speak of wolves and there are even myths of werewolves called; hatu runas or also lobizón, depending on the area. Just as in prehistoric times South America was also inhabited by prehistoric wolves.
I don't know. There seems to be more evidence that the Dwarf Manatee is a separate, distinct species from the Amazonian Manatee. It may even be an example of insular dwarfism or something. Either way, it's stupid that instead of putting up conservation measures for the manatees, they are more focused on whether they are a separate species or not. The Andean Wolf debate and controversy always fascinated me. It's been deemed a cryptid since people to this day still describe seeing a wolf-like animal.
now we know there was a hybrid of comon dog and a southamerican canid Pseudalopex vetulus, which is called raposa (fox) but is indeed more closly related to wolfes/dogs than to true fox/vulpes. Who knows, maybe some of that rare hybrids with a bigger american species, killed 3 of the offsprings in one time?
I mean...they literally considered the dwarf straight tusk elephant as a goddamn different species💀 wouldn't it just apply to this? That's like saying I'm related to the 6'11 and 6'9 locker room when in comparison I'm just a Caucasian plush toy to them😭
What the hell out that manatee back in the water :( As someone who sees manatees fairly regularly and was taught to never touch them it was weird seeing one out and about in a forest
As much as I would like to believe that the dwarf manatee is a separate species, it very well could be just a population of Amazonian manatee that has been dwarfed due to environmental conditions, IE its smaller habitat. A similar thing happens to the African forest elephant. It has a dwarf form caused by environmental conditions, and it was long considered a separate species called the African Pygmy elephant until skeletal examination was done.
there might have been what was left of the native american domestic dogs (theyre all extinct now) running feral at the time, thats what my guess that was
The definition of species based on the ability to produce offspring is highly flawed. It should be something like "a group of individuals who share physical and/or behavioral characteristics which make them unique and different from other groups of individuals." The behavioral characteristics are often overlooked but they might be the most important for some animals. They might look the same to us but if their mating rituals are different they will not mate even if they were still genetically compatible enough to produce offspring. Or their behavior in general can be so incompatible the crossbreed offspring suffers from psychological issues. Dogs crossed with wolves are notorious for that. They are a weird mix of wild and domesticated and are more dangerous to people than 100% wolves when kept as bizarre pets for showing off. This alone should mean dogs are not a subspecies of wolves but a separate species. The tiny manatees have too many unique characteristics to be considered just a part of the "main" species. They barely even fit the classic definition of a species based on the ability to produce offspring because if a tiny female has a baby with the normal sized male the baby will be too big for her to give birth naturally.
Scientists: there are 500 species of canid! (I know it's not 500, I just don't want to look it up) Me: They can all interbreed and produce viable offspring and their DNA, habitats, and for many of them, appearance is nearly identical. Scientists: They are species! Me: The dwarf manatee is different in habitat, appearance, bone structure, and nearly everything else, but has very similar DNA. Scinetists: Clearly not a species, if the DNA is too similar, what are you smoking?
I believe that, for the sake of conservation, the scientific community should just classify the dwarf manatee as a species so that protections are put in place to preserve the population. If a stable population is established and maintained, then they can reclassify but time is ticking for those little guys.
tbh the rule about the natural conditions kinda sound random
For what it’s worth I love these videos where each animal has a bit of a story behind it, rather than long lists. Great content as always!
Same
Regardless of whether the dwarf manatees are genetically distinct from standard manatees they are undeniably FUNCTIONALLY distinct. You could not simply have them switch places with each other. If one type dies out, the other type would not be suitably adapted if introduced to the other's range for replacing the lost population (in either direction).
Whether the dwarf manatees are a separate species or not, they should be protected
Mysterious Animals Are my favorite honestly.
Edit: As a Brazilian,i had NEVER known of the Dwarf Manatee,or its situation. It is So interesting to learn about this.
The last one really looks legit as a different species.
They should give a bit of leniency and exception for the Dwarf manatee.
I love disputed species, as someone who’s into paleontology my favorite dinosaur growing up has always been the Troodon, though recently their validity as a species has been disputed due to the holotype and they’re now a nomen dubium. This manatee situation is really interesting to me since I knew about the mammoth dwarfism thing, but I had no clue that there was even a modern day example of such a thing!
Also bonus thingy, I will be pitching an idea for a 30 second animated short film and it’s heavily based on your content! It will be based on the extinction of the passenger pigeon, and we start pitching in January, fingers crossed it gets selected. Would like to include you in the credits for inspiration; I also have planned narration for it if you’re interested. If you’d like updates let me know!
Love this topic and that we are learning so much about them even in modern times. Manatees are my favorite animal so I especially enjoyed the last part of your video.
16:37 Amazing, that discovery is huge! Very interesting!
6:30 reading that book for the first time in modern times must have been amazing!
That shrew almost sounds like a moonrat, perhaps a moonrat population or species lived in the area at some point
I googled moonrats and while they are black & white the distribution of the colors is different. Some of them are fully white.
I´m not convinced it´s the moonrat.
Please make more disputed species videos
Those black manatees are incredibly cute
these my favorite types of videos bro thank you
The andean wolf definitely seems unlikely. After all, pelts of three similar-looking german shepherds could conceivably have been obtained by someone wanting to scam someone else, and surely a wild canid of such size and distinct coloration would be something that many locals would have stories and knowledge of. The other two examples seem more likely, with shrews being so secretive, and the manatee simply being a question of if it should be considered a separate species or not. There's a rare caiman population that is similarly debated, as it has a distinct coloration and very thin snout compared to other caimans, but its genetics are pretty much identical to the spectacled caiman.
with the given estimate's it's unlikely to be a german shepherd a german shepherd is 91-108 cm in length the ears also seem too small and german shepherd's don't have mane's like that. If it's a different species it's probably already extinct and those coat's being from some of the last killed around that time
@neko0my0cat then why are there no accounts of living or intact specimens? What drove it to extinction when there is no sign of large scale or sustained hunting? And why is it hair not distinguishable from a domestic dog? Recall if it did exist, it should be quite distinct from the Canis genus, just like other South American canids.
@@Ryodraco99% of people (including local residents) have no idea of the short-eared dog's existence and that's an _extant_ Cerdocyonid. Similar situation with the bush dogs which were thought to be extinct for many years when initially discovered through fossils! Though they're a little better known.
I say this because you've obviously never been to a jungle _let alone_ the Amazon... When you have a large mountain range which has high elevations/unforgiving terrain and is sparsely populated.. add to that it's surrounded by thick & nearly impenetrable jungle which is also sparsely populated outside of a few cities? 🤔
After considering a small population numbers and an elusive nature, it is _very possible_ if not probable that there are other Cerdocyonid canines not known to western science in the Amazon/Peruvian Andes 💯👍
@@RyodracoAlso, I'm pretty sure most people _let alone_ a biologist would be able to recognize one of the most popular & well-known dog breeds (which the pelt looks nothing like)
And what would be the odds of having *3 identical* highly abberant German shepherds? A one-off maybe but 3? I don't buy that...
@@Ryodraco i would like to do more research on the other topics but comparison of the german shepherd hair is quite interesting the study: Dieterlen, Fritz: Über den Haarbau des Andenwolfes, Dasycyon hagenbecki (Krumbiegel, 1949). In: Säugetierkundliche Mitteilungen vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 26--31. January 1, 1954. i couldn't find it online (it might be in the Hamburg State and University Library Carl von Ossietzky) but i could find this: Dass Zweifel ausgeschlossen sind, konnte eine vergleichende Haarprobenanalyse durch Fritz Dieterlen so nicht bestätigen. Er verglich die Haarstruktur des „Andenwolfes“ mit jenen von Mähnenwolf, Magellanfuchs und Schäferhund und gelang zu uneindeutigen Ergebnissen. In gewissen Aspekten ähnelten sich hier Andenwolf und Schäferhund am stärksten, doch auch Abweichungen waren zu beobachten. and this quote in the same article from fritz dieterlen: „Die Untersuchung bringt somit kein eindeutiges Ergebnis. Sie bestätigt in gewisser Weise die systematische Selbstständigkeit der untersuchten Arten, mit der Einschränkung, daß vielleicht zwischen Andenwolf und Schäferhund engere Bindungen bestehen als sonst innerhalb der übrigen hier behandelten. Ferner ergibt sich, daß wohl nur ein groß angelegtes Haarstudium aller Caniden-Arten der Welt eines Haarbaumerkmals für die systematische Beurteilung eines Trägers herauszuschälen vermag.“ long story short it's not a match just the one that was the closest to it.
I love learning about mystery species too! Even with species like Bigfoot, that I don't believe to be real, finding out they actually are real would be super exciting for me. I like to think there are still a lot of mysteries to solve.
You can’t seriously think the people are seeing bears.
I love how you present both sides of the argument
Another day another banger video
The dwarf manatees should receive their own classification just for the sake of protecting their population which would be considered critically endangered if they are a unique species‼️
If we end up finding them not to be unique or just a subspecies later on, then we can always fix their classification... However, _if they are_ a unique species and we let them be extirpated? That loss to our planet's biodiversity can *_never_* be undone 💯
Sounds like the dwarf manatee is only on its way of becoming its own species.
I think the claim of Marc van Roosmalen sounds actually the most likely in comparison of the others because Marc is a very well known biologist who has a very credible reputation. He could be wrong, but this isn't a person who would try to scam or who hasn't have enough knowlidge to conclude things. He even has photo's of the animal. It's also in a part in the Amazon that's not been visited by others with knowlidge besides these local tribesmen, so it's likely it's understudied. It's maybe not a very old species or even a subspecies, but it looks like in a proces of becoming more and more a new species and it also looks like it also has a niche to forfill in the found different environment. I think these animals should be studied more just to discover more about them.
We love your content dude keep it up ❤
There is also this bear called MacFarlane's bear which is a disputed species and there is also one unproven variation of tiger called Maltese tiger. Another disputed species would be jba fofi of congo rainforest which tribals say are gigantic rare spiders. It can be some huge species of tarantula that can reach 2 feet in legspan.
Check out the video by "wartime stories" on giant spiders. It's worth it
Maltese tiger is a color morph, not a disputed species. There have been reputable eyewitness accounts of it in the past, but more than likely the genetics are gone due to how endangered tigers in general have become. Basically if it exists (or existed) it's a blue-grey tiger in the same vein of blue (aka grey) cats, as opposed to the typical orange.
I find the idea fascinating mostly because of just how weird and rare the genetics involved would be, because to get even a somewhat blue tiger, you've got to start with either a melanistic or pseudo-melanistic tiger, and then add dilution either to the base coat, the stripes, or both. Since there are no known fully melanistic tigers, you might additionally need the tiger to be a white pseudo-melanistic tiger. But the Maltese tiger likely was melanistic with either dilution (which could be a common gene and we wouldn't know it if it only affected black rather than orange coats) or a ticking effect similar to silver foxes. Basically the starting point to get to a Maltese tiger is already a rare tiger, although unless some underlying genetic illness affected them, they probably had a better survival rate than white tigers (and might even have had advantages over the orange ones).
The Maltese tiger was, as far as I know, only ever seen in the early 1900s in Southern China, where tigers are extinct. So, that color morph would be gone along with whatever genes or mutations caused it.
I read about the dwarf manatee years ago, and haven’t heard about it since then.
Manatees are such gentle sweet animals; it would be a tragedy to lose such a special group of them.
Another episode in the Saga, would you please do invalid taxa as a topic next time? (It is very common with extinct species, such as Monoclonius, Agathaumas, Ultrasauros, etc..)
Or even among stegosaurs.
Stories about European scientists, specifically german scientists, on the verge of discovering a new and fascinating species right at the crisp of 1940 never go the way we want 😞
Dwarf manatee should be considered a new species and if they won’t accept it then they need to find out quick before it’s too late
Plethodon ainsworthi, ainsworth's salamander is an example of this. It's considered extinct, but some scientists think the specimens are just misidentified Plethodon mississippi. They've never been able to get DNA from the existing specimens so far so we may never know for certain the truth of these salamanders.
Huh interesting south America is surely large enough to have mysterious animals in it
Video suggestion! Could you maybe talk about the Diamond Darter? It has a interesting story and there’s probably a lot more animals with similar stories, thought to be extinct then found somewhere else.
great video! i really enjoyed all the fascinating details you shared about these unique species. that said, i can’t help but wonder if the debate around their classifications is a bit exaggerated. like, do we need to label every minor variation as a separate species? it feels like it might complicate conservation efforts more than help them. what do you think?
Thanks for the video!
I love these vids, could you make a vid on Namdapha Giant Flying Squirrel?
Can you please do the Ungava Brown bear? I think it’s sooo interesting and could fit perfectly into one of these videos!!
Three more disputed critters !
The jetete flamingo
(very little information unfortunately)
The Mekong freshwater seahorse
(Hippocampus aimei , however the specimens were similar to Hippocampus barbouri so they became synonymous)
The Deepstar 4000 fish
( a huge fish observed by reliable researchers in 1967)
Also some of Beebes fish , fish he saw when descending to great depths in his bathysphere.
The case of the mysterious Andean wolf is interesting, since some Inca myths speak of wolves and there are even myths of werewolves called; hatu runas or also lobizón, depending on the area. Just as in prehistoric times South America was also inhabited by prehistoric wolves.
You... you should make a vídeo about the king cobra's taxonomy
Please do a video about species that have undergone radical changes due to domestication. Cows, cats, dogs, koi, etc
There is a lot of evidence to support the Dwarf Manatee being a separate species.
Dward Manatees are to me a species since I agree with his reasoning
Very interesting!
I don't know. There seems to be more evidence that the Dwarf Manatee is a separate, distinct species from the Amazonian Manatee.
It may even be an example of insular dwarfism or something. Either way, it's stupid that instead of putting up conservation measures for the manatees, they are more focused on whether they are a separate species or not.
The Andean Wolf debate and controversy always fascinated me. It's been deemed a cryptid since people to this day still describe seeing a wolf-like animal.
now we know there was a hybrid of comon dog and a southamerican canid Pseudalopex vetulus, which is called raposa (fox) but is indeed more closly related to wolfes/dogs than to true fox/vulpes. Who knows, maybe some of that rare hybrids with a bigger american species, killed 3 of the offsprings in one time?
Fascinating 😮
4:35 How the skin got contaminated with wolf DNA? Is not like someone would take the pelt and scrub it on top of a living wolf.
Would be cool to hear what your background is. Are you a biologist or biology student? Or simply just a nature enthusiast?
It seems like the first two are species, the last is either a subspecies or a dwarf local population.
Can you talk about the Venezuelan Poodle Moth?
I don't know about Sonnerat's shrew, but Sonneshrew's rat is 100% real.
Good lord.
Look up Belgian Tervuren. I believe that is what those pelts are.
It's ears look too small to me
But the rest does kinda look like it. Maybe it had cropped ears?
Pigmy manatees are so cute! I hope they’re out there somewhere
Fertile offspring? Like wolf-dogs or coywolves? Yeah, we need to fine tune that definition a bit. ✌🏼
Basically they are the same species. Think whitetail deer and mule deer, which are normally steril with hybradized, but not always.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was just a weird disjunct population of the piebald shrew that is now extinct.
That manatee is definitely a new species 😭 and theyre freaking cute.
I hope they're still out there 😭
I don't believe the Andean Wolf is a distinct species.
I mean...they literally considered the dwarf straight tusk elephant as a goddamn different species💀 wouldn't it just apply to this? That's like saying I'm related to the 6'11 and 6'9 locker room when in comparison I'm just a Caucasian plush toy to them😭
All humans are the same species.
What the hell out that manatee back in the water :( As someone who sees manatees fairly regularly and was taught to never touch them it was weird seeing one out and about in a forest
I am willing to bet they eat them.
@Steve-ev6vx I'm fairly sure that was mention in the video lol
As much as I would like to believe that the dwarf manatee is a separate species, it very well could be just a population of Amazonian manatee that has been dwarfed due to environmental conditions, IE its smaller habitat. A similar thing happens to the African forest elephant. It has a dwarf form caused by environmental conditions, and it was long considered a separate species called the African Pygmy elephant until skeletal examination was done.
They should still be protected, or at least properly managed.
there might have been what was left of the native american domestic dogs (theyre all extinct now) running feral at the time, thats what my guess that was
I was today years old when I learned there were manatees in the Amazon
Same
The definition of species based on the ability to produce offspring is highly flawed. It should be something like "a group of individuals who share physical and/or behavioral characteristics which make them unique and different from other groups of individuals." The behavioral characteristics are often overlooked but they might be the most important for some animals. They might look the same to us but if their mating rituals are different they will not mate even if they were still genetically compatible enough to produce offspring.
Or their behavior in general can be so incompatible the crossbreed offspring suffers from psychological issues. Dogs crossed with wolves are notorious for that. They are a weird mix of wild and domesticated and are more dangerous to people than 100% wolves when kept as bizarre pets for showing off. This alone should mean dogs are not a subspecies of wolves but a separate species.
The tiny manatees have too many unique characteristics to be considered just a part of the "main" species. They barely even fit the classic definition of a species based on the ability to produce offspring because if a tiny female has a baby with the normal sized male the baby will be too big for her to give birth naturally.
Scientists: there are 500 species of canid! (I know it's not 500, I just don't want to look it up)
Me: They can all interbreed and produce viable offspring and their DNA, habitats, and for many of them, appearance is nearly identical.
Scientists: They are species!
Me: The dwarf manatee is different in habitat, appearance, bone structure, and nearly everything else, but has very similar DNA.
Scinetists: Clearly not a species, if the DNA is too similar, what are you smoking?
They actually can't all interbreed
Fox can't breed wolf or coyote.
@@Steve-ev6vx I´ve heard cases of dogs breeding with foxes, but there are extremelly rare.