FASCINATING ANIMAL HYBRIDS

Individuals from different but closely related species do occasionally, though rarely mate, and the result is a biological hybrid — an off spring that shares traits from both parent species. 

The naming of hybrid animals depends on the sex and species of the parents. The father giving the first half of his species' name and the mother the second half of hers.

LIGERS

Ligers are the cross between a male lion and a female tiger, and they are the largest of all living cats and felines. Their massive size may be a result of imprinted genes which are not fully expressed in their parents, but are left unchecked when the two different species mate .Ligers are the world’s biggest cats, larger than their parents, with the strength of a lion and speed of a tiger combined.

An average male liger stands almost 12ft tall on its hind legs and weighs up to half a ton, twice the weight of a wild lion or tiger.

. Some female ligers can grow to 10 feet in length and weigh more than 700 pounds.

Ligers are extremely rare in the wild, as the behavior and habitats of lions and tigers make interbreeding unlikely.

Ligers are generally born in captivity They may resemble either parent, and

range from white  to golden brown, with or without spots and stripes. A male liger may have a mane, but it is usually much smaller than his father’s.

As hybrids, ligers have low fertility rates, but some females have produced an offspring by mating with full lions or tigers. Liger males are totally unfertile

Jaglion

JAGUAR LIONESS

JAGLION

Jaglion also known as a jaguon is the hybrid result of mating a male jaguar with a lioness.

Complications come with cross breeding the different species. In most cases all male and almost 90% of the females are sterile and cannot continue the reproduction process. 

Jaglion species is extremely limited due to the fact that there are less than a half a dozen of this beautiful wild cat in existence.

Tigon

Tigons are produced when a male tiger breeds with a female lion.

Tigons are a much more rare hybrid animal than ligers. Tigons more closely resemble their tiger fathers than ligers do their tiger mothers. Tigons have spots and stripes and are usually deep orange in color with white bellies. They can produce lion roars and tiger growls.

Lions and tigers are able to breed because they're genetically similar enough that their chromosomes can pair and produce offspring. Both lions and tigers have 38 chromosome.

Most tigon offspring don't reach full term or are stillborn because the mother tiger's womb isn't big enough to hold the big tigon cubs

Zebroids

 Zebroid is the offspring of a cross between a zebra and any other equine, usually a horse or a donkey. There are zorses, zonkeys, zonies and a host of other combinations. Zebroids are an interesting example of hybrids bred from species that have a radically different number of chromosomes. For instance, horses have 64 chromosomes and zebra have between 32 and 44 (depending on species)

Grolar bear

Grizzly bear Polar bear

Grolar bear

Grolar bear is the offspring of a grizzly bear and a polar bear . Unlike many hybrid animals on this list, grolar bears are known to occur naturally in the wild. Some experts predict that polar bears may be driven to breed with grizzly bears at an increased frequency due to global warming, and the fact that polar bears are being forced from their natural habitats on the polar ice.

Camas

Cama is a hybrid of two animals from different worlds — camels from Asia, and llamas from South America. The two species exhibit many differences, but camels and llamas are both camelids descended from a common ancestor  

Camas were produced via artificial insemination to create an animal with the size and strength of the camel, but the more cooperative temperament of the llama

Beefalo

Beefalo are the fertile offspring of domestic cattle and American bison. Crosses also exist between domestic cattle and European bison (zubrons), and yaks (yakows).

Although buffalo and cattle belong to both a separate genus and a separate species, they still have enough compatible genes to be able to produce viable offspring. The red meat from one of these hybrids is noted for its lower amounts of fat and cholesterol , it also contains fewer calories

Sheep-goats

Goats and sheep share many characteristics, but successful breeding between them is rare. Pregnancy is more likely to result from pairings between male sheep and female goats than male goats and female sheep. Most pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion.  Even so, live births have occurred, the most famous of which happened in Botswana in 2000.

Goats and sheep differ genetically: Sheep have 54 chromosomes, and goats have 60 chromosomes. Embryos created from goat-sheep pairings fail to develop due to these chromosomal differences.

Mules and Hinnies

MULE

HINNY

A mule is the result of the mating of a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare) to produce a hybrid. The much rarer hinny is the result of mating a female donkey(jennet) with a male horse (stallion) although the hinny is much harder to produce than the mule

The mule has the patience, endurance, sure footedness, sense, and drought tolerance of the donkey, combined with the size, speed, strength and courage of the horse. 

 All male mules and most female mules are infertile, so their continued existence depends entirely on human intervention.

Wholphins

DOLPHIN KILLER WHALE

WOLPHIN

 Wholphin  is an extremely rare hybrid born from a mating of a female common bottlenose dolphin with a male false killer whale (scientifically belongs to the dolphin family)

 Wholphin appears to be a very rare species and only a handful of wholphins are known to have been born in captivity, thus information regarding this species remains rare.

The first recorded wholphin was born in a Tokyo SeaWorld, but he died after 200 days. The first wholphin in the United States and the first to survive was Kekaimalu, born at Sea Life Park ,Hawaii.

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