The huge diversity of the animal world does not stop a person from conducting experiments to create new species. Sometimes animal hybrids are created for practical purposes, sometimes scientists are driven by curiosity and a desire to get an unusual, unseen species. Representatives of not only different species, but also genera are crossed. Thoughts are expressed about the prospect of obtaining hybrids of man and animal, but this topic causes rejection of society, as well as cloning of people.
Definition
The concept of "hybrid" from the point of view of science is defined as the formation of a living cell or organism as a result of the interaction of excellent genetic forms. Hybridization of plants and simple aquatic microorganisms is known and popular. Among interspecific, and sometimes intergeneric hybrids of the animal world, there are very unusual and curious specimens. Such a “mixing of blood" occurs in nature, but a greater amount is created by human efforts.
It is pointless to wait for the appearance of a dog with a pig’s head or a crocodile with an elephant’s ears. Hybrid progeny can appear only if the crossed species have similar genetic sets of chromosomes. The closest relatives by biological classification can give offspring, sometimes even capable of reproducing among themselves.
Vagaries of wildlife
In nature, animal hybrids are rare, but they are. They appear without any human influence. Mammals, birds, fish, even insects manage to create an “unconventional” pair:
- Huarizo. Crossbreeds of llama and alpaca are quite common, this is due to the joint keeping of animals. They are slightly smaller than llamas, covered with long (up to 30 cm) hair, it is tougher than alpaca. Some hybrid individuals are able to give offspring, but they are not isolated into a separate subspecies, unlike ligers (a hybrid of a lion and a tigress) and their offspring are ligers.
- Fox. A rare combination for the wildlife of the warring species of black-brown fox and arctic fox (polar fox). For the unusual color at the base of the hair is gray, and at the very tips - black, it is called silver fox. In captivity, bred artificially for the sake of magnificent fur.
- Zoni, or zonk. This is the name of all hybrids that carry zebra DNA. In the wild are not common. In one way or another, they are similar to their parents, very often have a zebroid color throughout the body or in separate areas.
- More than a dozen different variations of hybrids of dogs with wolves, coyotes with wolves, coyotes with dogs. They are larger than dogs, excellent hunters, very distrustful of people.
- The most popular and numerous fish hybrids are a pair of bream and roach. This is due to the coincidence of spawning periods for both species and the same preferences for the habitat.
- Hybrid iguana. An example of intergeneric crossing of marine and land iguanas. They are found only in the south of the Galapagos Islands, where both species live. Their color is dark with white dots or stripes near the head. Scientists have discovered offspring from hybrid animals.
- Hybrid pheasant. In nature, birds often mate not only of different species, but also of the genera of pheasants. Individual individuals can breed.
- Kidas (Kidus). Cubs from sable and marten. In size they are larger than both parents, in the quality of the fur closer to sable.
- Tumak. Mix from a male hare and female hare. In nature, they are found in places where their habitat zones intersect. Offspring do not give.
Human work
In zoos and national parks of different countries a lot of work on the development of new animal hybrids. Sometimes an experiment is set up purposefully, sometimes circumstances and chance decide everything. The most popular ligars and tigons in zoos. In the first case, a lion is a male, a female tigress, in the second, on the contrary, a tiger and a lioness. Curiously, ligers are the largest cats on earth. Males of both hybrids are barren, and females can bear offspring.
Scientists have received other hybrids:
- Mule. The "baby" of the donkey and the mare, strong hardy animals, live longer than horses, work great as pack animals.
- Loshak. The result of mating a stallion with a donkey. Their breeding is not practiced, because they do not represent economic value.
- Kama. A cross between a male one-humped camel (dromedary) and a female llama. To obtain offspring, the method of artificial insemination was used. The work was carried out at the Camel Reproduction Center (Camel Breeding Center) in Dubai. The goal was to get an individual, in size, strength and character, close to the dromedary, and by coat - to the llama.
- Africanized bee (killer bee). Bred in 1956 in Brazil. The good physical strength, fertility, and performance of African bees made scientists think of crossing them with ordinary bees. The experiment was conducted in isolation, but for unknown reasons, hybrids gained freedom. The "new" insects independently crossed with the local ones and aggressive killer bees were born. In Brazil, more than 200 people and a lot of animals died from them. They bring benefits - they "work" excellently on pollination of agricultural plants, much more effective than ordinary bees.
- Haynak. Hybrid of a yak and a domestic cow. Externally - a cow with a ponytail. Females are called pulp, males are called ju (they are sterile). Females give up to 5400 liters of milk per lactation, with a fat content of 3.2%, meat - up to 200 kg. In addition, fur and leather of special strength are valued. They live up to 36 years, giving each year one calf. Ferocious judo are castrated and used as working animals. One bull is capable of carrying up to 600 kg of cargo on its back.
- Bison, or bison (depending on who the "dad" was). The first experiments were conducted in Askania-Nova. The lack of purebred bison pushed for the creation of hybrid animals. A group of individuals was introduced into the Caucasus, replacing the exterminated Caucasian bison. To date, the total number of herds here totals about 600 goals.
Feline
A lot of different hybrids are obtained in the cat family:
- Tiglon, or tigrolev - a hybrid of a tiger and a lioness. Quite famous and popular animals, many zoos and national parks of the world can boast of their presence. Males are infertile, females can bear offspring.
- Liger is a cross between a tigress and a lion. Very large, due to the lack of a gene that inhibits growth, they continue to grow throughout life. Sometimes they are twice as large as their parents. Most are barren. Found in zoos and circuses in the United States.
- Jaguopard, or lepgyag (it depends who was the father). Hybrid crossbreeds from jaguar and leopard. These animals can be seen in some zoos in Europe and America.
- Legoire. Luxurious in color, the beast is especially beautiful black with a spotted pattern, a cross between a lion and a female jaguar.
- Leopon. Hybrid from male leopard and lioness. The body is from a leopard, and the head resembles a lion’s, it happens with a small (up to 20cm) mane. The color is light red with a spotty pattern.
- Lipard (lepard). From a pair of a lion and a female leopard, hybrids have a body structure similar to a leopard, they are smaller than lions, but more massive than a leopard. The color is red with a spotty pattern.
- Yaglev. Very beautiful cross between a male jaguar and a lioness. Anatomically similar to the African lion, the color is mainly black with a pattern.
- Savannah. A cross between a wild serval and a domestic cat.
- Bengals. Hybrid Asian leopard and domestic cats.
- Shawzi. Wild reed cat and domestic cat.
All crosses with domestic cats are bred artificially, through a long and focused selection. As a rule, they have habits and color of wild "parents", all excellent hunters. However, they calmly communicate with people, show affection and desire to communicate.
Ungulates
Animal hybrids among ungulates are quite numerous:
Bifalo. The American bison and cow were crossed for the sole purpose of obtaining a new source of meat. By selecting individuals with the best qualities of their parents, breeders achieve not only an increase in meat yield and an improvement in their taste characteristics, but also get strong healthy cattle that can grow in conditions as close to natural as possible.
- Yakalo. A hybrid of a yak and a wild American bison. The attempt to breed a new breed was unsuccessful, the bulls were fruitless, the survival rate of crossbreeds is very low, in 1928 the work was turned off.
- Zebroids. All options for crossing horses, including ponies and donkeys with zebras:
- zors - a zebra and a horse;
- zonk - a zebra and a donkey;
- Zones - zebra and pony.
They have no special economic value, they are rather unpredictable in behavior, as a rule, they have zebroid marks.
The camel hybrids, by contrast, are very practical, strong, hardy, with an easygoing character:
- kama - camel and llama;
- Birtugan (females are called May) - male dromedary and female Bactrian;
- Iner - male Bactrian and female Dromedar.
The Bears
It is curious that a hybrid of a polar and a brown bear (nanulak, grolar, peesley, aknuk) is registered both in the wild and in zoos. It was previously believed that these fairly close relatives could theoretically mate in nature, but the fact of birth, and most importantly - the survival of the hybrid in the wild, is very small. But recently, three cases of the appearance of adult pees have been recorded.
A hybrid of a polar and brown bear first appeared in 1874 at the German zoo Halle. Today they can be seen in many zoos in the world. Animals are capable of breeding and adapt perfectly to changing climatic conditions. The color varies, brown spots or stripes are randomly scattered on the white skin. In appearance, it is more reminiscent of a grizzly bear - a humpbacked back, long claws, brown pigmentation around the nose and eyes, medium-sized features of the “face”.
Birds
Animal hybrids are not uncommon among birds, and some of them appeared without human intervention:
- Mezhnyak - capercaillie and black grouse act as parents. It looks like an underfed capercaillie, it is larger than a black grouse, but it does not reach the size of a capercaillie. The huntsmen try to shoot them, since pretty arrogant mezhnyaks drive normal males from the teters. There are no offspring from hybrids, which leads to a reduction in the population.
- Mulard. An interspecific hybrid of birds - the drakes of musky ducks and domestic ducks of different breeds: white aloe, orgpington, Rouen and Beijing white. The meat breed is characterized by the quality of meat, similar to goose, contains only 3% fat. The fattening period is within 4 months.
Heron Wurdemann. The result of love between a great egret and a great blue heron. Initially, the birds were isolated in a separate species, but studies have shown that this is still a hybrid. It is found only in the United States in the coastal areas of South Florida. Outwardly, it looks more like a large blue heron, but differs in the color of plumage.
Water world
One of the most famous hybrids of animals in the water kingdom is the red parrot fish. This species appeared in Taiwan in 1986. Their receipt is still kept in the strictest confidence. Amazing transformations begin by the age of five months, when gray-black nondescript fry turn into pink or bright orange beauties. The hybrid has a very narrow mouth in the form of a vertical slit, which makes it difficult to feed.
In Russia (in 1952), an experiment on the artificial hybridization of sterlet and beluga was successfully conducted. The hybrid was called the bester. A viable, fast-growing fry gave excellent growth rates. Fish perfectly reproduces, gives tasty caviar and tender meat. This hybrid is still bred in fish farms, and is in demand as a representative of sturgeon.
A hybrid of sharks is found in Australian waters. The crossing of the common black feather shark and the Australian black feather shark led to the appearance of very aggressive and hardy individuals.
The rarest
The rarest animal hybrids include:
- A hybrid of bottlenose dolphin and small black killer whale was obtained from captive sea creatures in captivity. Kosatkodelfin in all respects is something between parents. They can only be seen in a marine park in the Hawaiian Islands.
- Another inhabitant of the ocean expanses is narlukha. Parent couple formed of beluga whale and narwhal. These amazing creatures can be found in the North Atlantic.
- Honorics were obtained from a ferret and European mink. A beautiful, but extremely aggressive animal was bred in the fur farms of the USSR. Today, due to the many difficulties and the threat of extinction, European minks are no longer bred.
- A kangaroo hybrid is obtained from the mating of a giant kangaroo and a large redhead. Breeding such an animal is possible only with the participation of humans.
- Hybrid ram and goats. “It turned out” by chance (in 2000), the animals were kept together. An amazing individual had 57 pairs of chromosomes, in goats there were 60, in sheep - 54. The male was characterized by an increased libido, he had to be castrated at the age of 10 months. The appearance of such hybrid animals was noted in Russia and New Zealand. Despite the fact that animals of both species are usually kept together, hybrid offspring practically do not exist. In rare cases, mating a ram and a goat (or a goat and a sheep), the cubs are usually stillborn.
Practical value
Interspecific hybrids help people survive in the most difficult natural conditions. Work animals obtained from interspecific crossing are more enduring than their parents. They are less susceptible to various diseases. Wolfhounds (a hybrid of wolves and dogs) are used to guard borders as service dogs. Zebroids work well as pack and mount animals, resistant to tsetse fly bites.
Breeders often use hybridization to breed new breeds of farm animals. The phenomenon of heterosis (crossbreeds larger than their parents) is often used in beef cattle breeding (industrial breeding), growing the first generation for meat, without their further use in reproduction.
