first paragraph (abstract not available) Hybridisation occurs when distinct populations interbreed with one another. Historically, hybrids have lacked recognition in legal conservation frameworks, mainly because they have been perceived as a threat to species’ purity and lacking conservation value (Draper et al. 2021). Twenty years ago, in a landmark paper, Allendorf and colleagues (2001) proposed distinguishing between natural and anthropogenic hybrids and argued for the protection of the former as well as the mitigation and control of the latter. Their justification for this was based on promoting what we here refer to as the evolutionary, biodiversity, ecological, and naturalness values (Table 1), along with the empirical proposition that natural hybrids promote these values whereas anthropogenic hybrids detract from them (Allendorf et al. 2001). The practice of removing anthropogenic hybrids has since been criticised by those who believe that at least some anthropogenic hybrids also ought to be actively conserved, in view of their ecological and evolutionary benefits (Stronen & Paquet 2013; vonHoldt et al. 2018). For example, Cooper and Shaffer (2021) recently found that the anthropogenic hybrids of two tiger salamander species (Ambystoma spp.) can tolerate thermal extremes better and are more resilient in the face of climate change than either of the parent populations.