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<blockquote data-quote="Merkuri" data-source="post: 5114987" data-attributes="member: 41321">This branch of the discussion reminded me of an example of what I think was ring species (it's been a long time so I may have misremembered what ring species are) that I learned in high school biology.&nbsp; There are different &quot;species&quot; of chipmunks that live in the United States whose territories stripe the US similar to the time zones.&nbsp; Each &quot;species&quot; can breed and have offspring with the &quot;species&quot; next to it, yet the east coast and west coast chipmunks cannot breed with each other.By the technical definition of species (two creatures are of the same species if they are able to breed and have fertile offspring) the east coast and west coast chipmunks are not the same species, yet it's still possible that genes can be shared between the two populations through the intermediate &quot;species&quot; of chipmunks.&nbsp; This scenario always fascinated me.The same is true with elves, humans, and orcs, I guess.&nbsp; Elves and humans are the same species (technically) and so are orcs and humans, but elves and orcs cannot produce fertile offspring so they are not the same species.I've toyed with the idea before that humans are actually a true-breeding cross of elves and orcs and that this is a dirty secret of the three races, but never did anything with it.&nbsp; In any case, I bet I'm not the first person to come up with that concept.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Merkuri, post: 5114987, member: 41321"] This branch of the discussion reminded me of an example of what I think was ring species (it's been a long time so I may have misremembered what ring species are) that I learned in high school biology. There are different "species" of chipmunks that live in the United States whose territories stripe the US similar to the time zones. Each "species" can breed and have offspring with the "species" next to it, yet the east coast and west coast chipmunks cannot breed with each other. By the technical definition of species (two creatures are of the same species if they are able to breed and have fertile offspring) the east coast and west coast chipmunks are not the same species, yet it's still possible that genes can be shared between the two populations through the intermediate "species" of chipmunks. This scenario always fascinated me. The same is true with elves, humans, and orcs, I guess. Elves and humans are the same species (technically) and so are orcs and humans, but elves and orcs cannot produce fertile offspring so they are not the same species. I've toyed with the idea before that humans are actually a true-breeding cross of elves and orcs and that this is a dirty secret of the three races, but never did anything with it. In any case, I bet I'm not the first person to come up with that concept. [/QUOTE]

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