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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-shocking-animal-hybrids-that-truly-exist-in-nature-from-narlugas-to-grolar-bears-to-coywolves-180983996/>
"For well over a month, the internet has been buzzing with rumors surrounding a
mysteriously pregnant stingray and the idea that she might be incubating a type
of never-before-seen offspring: shark-stingray hybrid babies.
In February, an ultrasound of a female round stingray named Charlotte, who
lives at an aquarium in Hendersonville, North Carolina, revealed she was
carrying up to four pups. This might have been a routine discovery if it
weren’t for one shocking detail—she doesn’t share her enclosure with any other
ray. Instead, Charlotte is accompanied by two male sharks, prompting the hybrid
speculation.
But in reality, scientists say a shark couldn’t breed with a stingray—their
anatomies are completely different. In the case of Charlotte, then, her
pregnancy can most likely be explained by parthenogenesis, a type of asexual
reproduction akin to cloning that’s performed by some fish, reptiles and birds.
While we’re not likely to see shark-ray hybrids anytime soon (or, probably,
ever), some truly spectacular hybrid animals already exist in the world. Many
have happened serendipitously in captivity, such as the liger, the massive
offspring of a male lion and female tiger. And others have been intentionally
created by humans—from the beefalo, a blend of cattle and buffalo bred for meat
production, to the ancient kunga, a cross between a female donkey and a male
Syrian wild ass that may have been a status symbol in Mesopotamia 4,500 years
ago.
Occasionally, though, hybrid animals appear in the wild—sometimes as a chance
occurrence, and sometimes due to interference from climate change. As humans,
even we are the result of hybridization, as all people of non-African descent
derive about 1 to 4 percent of their DNA from Neanderthals, while African
people have about 0.5 percent Neanderthal DNA.
Here are five other crosses between animals that have appeared in nature."
Via 7B'JaJaDa.
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
