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Originally Posted by Formendacil
However, I would say that the orks, what with Morgoth's heavy hand in changing their biology, are probably a different species, although the same genus, since they can interbreed with humans and Elves ...
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My biology is rusty. Is it right that things of a different species but the same genus can interbreed? If so, then I would agree with you. I suspect that the offspring of interbred Orcs and Men would be capable of reproduction, but I have no evidence to back up that point.
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It just seems quite a jump to take to say 'They look vaguely the same, so they're probably the same species.'
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I would put Men and Dwarves a lot closer, biologically speaking, than racoons and wolverines. To all intents and purposes they were biologically identical with the exception of size/build and longetivity (and, perhaps, rate of beard growth
). But, assuming that Formendacil is correct, I would agree with him and place them in a different species but the same genus.