A horse and a donkey can breed to produce mule which is an infertile a

A horse and a donkey can breed to produce mule which is an infertile animal. The infertility is because horse and donkey belong to different

class

order

species

genus

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This question was previously asked in

UPSC NDA-2 – 2016

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Mules are infertile because horses and donkeys belong to different species.

A species is generally defined as a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. While horses (Equus caballus) and donkeys (Equus asinus) can interbreed to produce a mule (or a hinny), their offspring are almost always sterile. This sterility arises because horses and donkeys have different numbers of chromosomes (horses have 64, donkeys have 62). The mule inherits 63 chromosomes, which cannot pair properly during meiosis, preventing the formation of viable gametes (sperm or eggs), thus leading to infertility.

Horses and donkeys belong to the same genus, Equus, which indicates a relatively recent common ancestor compared to differences at the order or class level. The ability to produce hybrid offspring, even if infertile, is common between closely related species within the same genus.

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