Scientists Discover First Known Hybrid Bird Species In The Amazon Rainforest

Hybrid species among vertebrates are exceedingly rare. Scientists have discovered the first known hybrid bird species to be found in the Amazon rainforest - a golden-crowned manakin (Lepidothrix vilasboasi) with yellow feathers.

They were then able to sequence a large portion of the golden-crowned manakins genome including 16,000 different genetic markers, finding that about 20 per cent of its genome came from the snowy-crowned, and about 80 per cent came from the opal-crowned. The researchers also used something called coalescent modelling to figure out at what point the golden-crowned split off from its parental species.