Okay, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna ask you what
you're feeling like. We got feeling good. I'm
out of touch. I completely forgot what the choices
are because I don't even know what I've been
doing with my fringy minis. Feel good. Feel bad.
Pretty sure this is bad. Feeling disappointed.
Feeling uncertain. Feeling like an update. Can't
choose between good or bad feelings. You can
stop right there because it's been so long since
I've delved into that try to figure out the difference
between feeling uncertain and can't decide. Are
you sure you're not feeling like a Christmas
Minnie? You didn't hear that one. Damn it. We're
feeling uncertain. You can't take it back. This
one's live science, live science. Yeah, we've
never settled. No, we haven't. Hidden DNA found
in blue whales reveals they've been mating with
other species and their hybrid offspring. This
is by Harry Baker, February 5th, 2024. It's about
as recent as I would like in a mini. Stop for
a second and I'll agree that if you have the
last name that's a profession, you can't name
your kid Harry. If you name your kid Harry, you
gotta have a nice last name to set up for Harry.
Harry Sanderson, that's fine. But Harry Taylor,
Harry Smith, Harry Baker, not good because then
it's just the Harry version of the profession.
Harry Baker, I mean, yeah. I mean, thankfully
he didn't become a baker. I was just going to
say chef. Let's do this. Enough about who wrote
this. Blue whales in the Atlantic Ocean are harboring
a previously unknown and potentially alarming
level of hybrid DNA, a new study shows. Is there
an alarming amount? I don't know, is it human
DNA? We're going to find out. The findings hint
that whale hybrids are much more reproductively
viable than previously realized. Interesting.
Blue whales, Allianoptera musculus, are the world's
largest animal. capable of reaching an astonishing
110 feet long, around three times longer than
a school bus. The number of these giants plummeted
in the early 20th century due to extreme levels
of commercial whaling. As a result, blue whales
are currently listed as endangered by the International
Union of Conservation of Nature's IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species, although their numbers
are starting to rebound worldwide. Of the four
subspecies of blue whale B. musculus musculus,
Which is found in the - this just sounds like
gibberish. Which is found in the north - Is it
musculus? Musculus, yeah. B. musculus musculus,
which is found in North Atlantic and North Pacific,
is one of the most at -risk. In a new study published
January 6, 2024, in the journal Conservation
Genetics, researchers analyzed the genomes of
B .M. musculus, the M stands for musculus, I'm
not sure what B stands for, in the North Atlantic
for signs of inbreeding, which could impede the
recovery of this group. The researchers created
a D. novo genome. for this population, meaning
it was created from scratch, by piecing together
bits of DNA from different individuals. The team
then used this new genetic blueprint as a template
to further analyze the full or partial genomes
of 31 individuals from across the population's
range. Quote, this is a long, laborious process
akin to assembling a huge jigsaw puzzle with
no picture on the box for guidance. Sounds like
I'd never want to do it. End quote. Study co
-author. He didn't say that he didn't want to
do it, I actually said that. Those are my thoughts.
And then the quote ended. Mark Engstrom, an ecological
geneticist at the University of Toronto, told
Live Science in an email. But once the puzzle
has been solved, it becomes much easier to do
again and again, he added. They found that each
of the sample whales had a fin whale, DNA lurking
within their genomes. Around 3 .5 % of the group's
DNA come from fin whales on average. Scientists
have long known that blue whales and fin whales
can reproduce to create hybrids of the two species.
species, despite blue whales being around 85
tons heavier on average according to the New
York Times. These hybrids are sometimes referred
to as flu whales and often look like unusually
large fin whales with the coloration and jaw
structure of blue whales, according to a 2021
study. Until recently, it was assumed that these
hybrids were infertile and could not have offspring
of their own, similar to most other hybrid animals.
However, a 2018 study revealed that at least
some of these hybrids could successfully reproduced
with blue whales. Researchers believe hybrid
whales have been reproducing with blue whales,
resulting in bat -crossed offspring with mostly
blue whale DNA and some fin whale DNA. This type
of DNA transfer from one species to another via
interbreeding is known as introgression. A new
study team has suspected they may find fin whale
DNA among the genomes they sequenced, but the
amount of introgression between the species that
we found was unexpected and much higher than
reported previously. Ingström said. That was
a quote. Similar studies on fin whales have found
no evidence that the species have inherited any
blue whale DNA via introgression. Ingström said.
So it seems that only blue whales are capable
or perhaps willing to reproduce with these hybrids.
Wow. They're the only ones willing to reproduce
with those guys. Those freaks. Yeah, they're
freaks. They're into freaky stuff. Quote, we
don't know why introgression appears unidirectional,
end quote Instrom said. However, it could be
because there are many more fin whales than blue
whales, he added. There's also little evidence
that introgression between fin - that's funny
that it doesn't go the other way actually. That
the fin whale is willing. I guess, to breed with
the blue whale if it's a blue whale, but not
if it's a hybrid. They have really weird standards.
This is also little evidence that introgression
between fin whales and blue whales happens in
any other part of the world as far as we know.
This is a phenomenon in the North Atlantic only,
Ingström said. Although why that might be is
unclear, he added. There is no current evidence
that carrying fin whale DNA negatively impacts
blue whale individuals. However, Engstrom is
concerned that if introgression continues, it
could reduce the amount of blue whale DNA across
the population, which could make these whales
less resilient to adapting to new challenges
such as human -caused climate change. Genomes
also revealed that there was much less inbreeding
between North Atlantic blue whales than expected.
These guys are quite shocking. The researchers
found that there is a significant gene flow between
whales from the western Atlantic in North America
and North America to eastern Atlantic near Europe,
which is likely caused by western whales following
the North Atlantic current eastward to feed.
This is good news because it means the population
is more connected and therefore more genetically
diverse and resilient to changes, Ingström said,
quote, This gives me hope that with sustained
conservation efforts, Atlantic populations can
recover, end quote. You gotta think that they
know what they're doing. That's the end anyway.
I'm not sure why I filed this. It's not good
news. It's not bad news. It's just news. I don't
know that I would file it anywhere else, actually.
Not under can't decide? No. Oh, I feel like this
is filed properly. Don't you? I don't know, because
you just told me you couldn't decide. No, it
was file break. I find it really interesting
that it turns out whales are really like the
dogs of the ocean and that like apparently they're
all just like different breeds of the same species
because they can interbreed. Well, apparently
this is new news. Yeah, but they really are.
And it's funny because whales originally evolved
from basically like a proto wolf that will go
out into the earth basically wolves they evolve
from wolves come from wolves you could have told
me leprechauns and i would have been equally
shy but yeah it's kind of funny and that they're
kind of like that and they can be huge or tiny
but they can still breed together. So just some
wolves decided to go to the ocean? Yeah they
started eating from things in the ocean and because
their diet was more water -based the ones that
were born with genetics that are better for water
started doing better and better and eventually
they couldn't leave the water. I have to look
into this more. I know it was weird when I first
learned that too. They have a fossil record for
it so it's kind of crazy. Yeah. That's fucking
weird. Okay, so whales are just the wolves. Yeah,
they're like dogs. You got Chihuahua sized ones
and you got Great Dane sized ones. And they can
all interbreed. They're not a wolf. Okay, fair
enough. I think. I don't know. Maybe I'm completely
missing the point, but that's what I get from
this. That's a fact now. Anyhow, you guys got
48 hours. Prove me wrong. Okay, bye.