Hybrids

hy-brid (n.) Genetics. The offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock, especially the offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties, species, or races. (source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hybrid)

My thoughts? Come to think of it, when I hear hybrids, I think of human-alien mix. I don't know why maybe it's 'coz I like watching re-runs of The X-files on cable. Seriously though, I thought of this 'coz of a yahoo article I've read on some amazing hybrid animals. I guess it's amazing that even nature can play tricks on us. Hell, real life is stranger than fiction. I wonder how many more hybrids out there exist undetected by us humans. These are some of the hybrids I find interesting.

A 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). Even so, nature finds a way.

Ligers are the cross of 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. Some female ligers can grow to 10 feet in length and weigh more than 700 pounds.

A cross between a false killer whale and an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, wholphins are hybrids that have been reported to exist in the wild. There are currently two in captivity, both at Sea Life Park in Hawaii.

The wholphin's size, color, and shape are intermediate between the parent species. Even their number of teeth is mixed; a bottlenose has 88 teeth, a false killer whale has 44 teeth, and a wholphin has 66.

The offspring of a grizzly bear and a polar bear, a grolar bear is one beast you don't want to meet in the woods. Interestingly, 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.

(source:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ygreen/20100427/sc_ygreen/sixamazinghybridanimals)