A group of organisms that live in the same place and time, and can interbreed to produce healthy offspring, is called?

• A. Population
• B. Genus
• C. Species
• D. Family

Answer: (C)

Think of a species as the reproductive unit of life. When a group of organisms lives in the same place and time and can mate to produce offspring that are healthy (and typically fertile), they belong to the same species. This focuses on their ability to interbreed and produce viable offspring, which is what keeps that group genetically cohesive over generations.

A population is just the number of individuals living in a particular area, not defined by who they can mate with. Genus and family are higher levels of classification that group related species together, but they don’t specify whether members can interbreed with each other.