Is "Pokemon" a species?

[alehizzle]

But Pokemon of two different species can breed with each other and make offspring, something that a dog and a cat for example can't do. ;x

While that is true, I don't see how that changes anything. Pokemon do still have to be compatible with each other in order to breed. Also, keep in mind that we are theorizing about fiction using real-world science. :P

 

[CliveKoopa]

In the anime, we see pokemon falling in love with pokemon of completely different kinds many times but it doesn't necesaarily mean they can breed.

 

[Oryx]

In the anime, we see pokemon falling in love with pokemon of completely different kinds many times but it doesn't necesaarily mean they can breed.

The games are the closest to canon we can get and in games Pokemon like Rattata and Rhyperior can breed and make offspring.

I think that Pokemon needs another classification between species and Pokemon, that would be equivalent to their egg group.

 

[Lilienne]

A lion and a tiger can have offspring, despite being of a different species. I'd figure Egg Groups are a Genus. A Pokemon would be of a separate Kingdom all of their own. Phylum would be probably a Body Type. And you'd keep going down, and so on, until you hit a species, which would probably be a basic Pokemon and it's "evolutions" (or you can consider them a separate species, whatever floats your boat.) And just as separate species can, on rare cases, interbreed with other species, perhaps Pokemon have a separate biology that allows them to interbreed more readily within the same genus/families.

 

[pokeydokey]

pokemon are pokemon are pokemon are pokemon

 

[Yoshikkko]

I think you could compare them with bacteria? Bacteria aren't an animal species, they are bacteria. So Pokémon would just be their own race or whatever.

 

[mastsethi]

Well, they are not animals. They are different breed of a living beings. The breed is called Pokemon.