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drmehmetoz t1_j94dosy wrote

Reply to comment by Batgod629 in Flaco the escaped zoo owl can remain in the wilds of NYC by citytiger

His species does not live in New York and hybridization is pretty unlikely so prob not

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fiendishrabbit t1_j955cfm wrote

Eurasian Eagle-Owl and Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) have hybridized before (in zoo populations).

The Great Horned Owl is native to New York, so I would not rule it out.

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drmehmetoz t1_j959mv7 wrote

Possible but unlikely. There’s going to be some pretty significant behavioral differences between him and any great horned owls, especially if he’s been in a zoo his whole life. The behavioral differences will make it hard to find a mate. Released zoo animals are less likely to find a wild mate (and that’s not even considering that he’s a different species lol)

Also great horned owl breeding season started weeks ago so he’s gonna have to pick up the pace if he wants to find a mate. He’s already behind so he would need to find a territory, nesting site, and a willing mate in the next 2-3 weeks

Also great horned owls are semi-uncommon in the city so he’ll have pretty limited options. If he’s still in central park I think there is actually a single female there though

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HouseOfSteak t1_j983l35 wrote

They can live around 20 in the wild and up to 60 in captivity, it's not like he's only got one shot.

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drmehmetoz t1_j98g25f wrote

Oh I kinda assumed they would be trying to recapture him later on, but if they give up totally then I totally agree!

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Batgod629 t1_j94e1il wrote

I don't know how genetically close they are to other owl species. However if they are capable I wouldn't rule it out

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fiendishrabbit t1_j955ikj wrote

They're so closely related to the Great Horned Owl (native to the US, including New York state) that they might be conspecific (ie, just two different expressions of the same species), and there have been viable hybrids between the two species before.

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95castles t1_j963ies wrote

MAYBE they manage to have offspring, but I highly doubt those offspring would be fertile.

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resistible t1_j9ajjs4 wrote

Yeah, it could totally be as ineffective a hybridazation as coywolves... wait.

The reality is that of all the predictors we have of whether two species can hybridize, this guy checks a few of those boxes with at least one of the local species. We don't have enough understanding to say very much about viable hybrid offspring coming from this animal.

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95castles t1_j9ak2do wrote

Yeah more research is needed. I would like to be wrong because I find the idea of hybridization to be very interesting. But yeah, I think it’s much more likely for the offspring to not be fertile. And that’s if they do manage to mate in the first place.

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resistible t1_j9aszxq wrote

I don't think they even mate. But I wouldn't have thought that of wolves and coyotes, either. So here we are lol

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