How many people could you potentially have a child with?

In theory, almost half the world population.

But in practice, we humans have a lot of obstacles to reproduction.

Some of these are geographical.

You most likely will not have a child with someone who currently

lives halfway around the world. Part of this is because of guarded borders and bureaucracies,

but part of it is also just the difficulty of simply moving oneself such a long distance.

Some of these barriers are cultural. You are less likely to have a relationship with someone who doesn't speak the same language as you, or holds completely different beliefs.

And some are personal. Many, if not most of the people on earth, are not viable candidates for you to mate with because one of you won't find the other

attractive, either personally or physically. So, who's left? Well, while there are obviously many,

many exceptions, most of you are going to end up raising kids with someone who is living in the

same region as you, speaks the same language as you, and shares a mutual attraction with you.

How many people is that? Humans are not a species that mates randomly. Nor are we a species without reproductive barriers.

The percentage of the species you have any reasonable chance of having a child with

is probably in the single digits.

Today, we're going to talk about a species where the inverse is true.

A global species, where almost everybody is in the same mating pool.

The Globe Skimmer.

Plantala Flavesense.

I'm Mackin. This is species.

Welcome to the show. Today, mating is going to be a recurring topic, so if there are families

listening, please know that that will be reappearing on today's menu going in.

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