Mammal Hybridization: The Truth and The Myths

We've probably all heard the stories about Frankenstein experiments gone awry and creatures being crossed that would never have bred together in nature. Or perhaps we heard stories growing up about cabbits and griffins and wondered if they might really be possible.

Hybrids are a touchy issue and one that have been on our collective conscience for millennia. They make us think about the world around us and the taboos which we enforce. Why would man want to create hybrids and what has he already made? Are there hybrids in nature? All of these are good questions and ones which can be easily answered but before we start we must learn the technical meaning of what a hybrid really is. A hybrid is an animal (or plant) who has been created by breeding two parents of wholly different species. Whether this was a natural occurrence or something done in a test tube doesn't matter, the result is the same.

This article will focus on mammilian hybrids only because to list all hybrids would be an immense task. In the future I am hoping to use this article as an index, linking each creature to its own article, so please stay tuned if there's something of particular interest to you. I'll be constantly adding to the knowlege here.

• "Hybrids are a flight of fancy, they don't actually exist." This just isn't true. They are everywhere in our world.
• "There's no such thing as a hybrid born in the wild without the help of man." Again, this is a falsehood. Certain species can and occasionally will interbreed, particularly if a partner of their own species can't be found. I'll go over this in more detail later on.
• "All hybrids are sterile." This is a misconception that comes from applying the rules of mules to the rest of the hybrid world. Mules, the world's most well-known hybrid, are indeed usually sterile. Other hybrids can be sterile as well but this is actually the exception, not the rule.

Equine hybrids are probably the best documented as people have been fussing over them for at least 100 years and probably well before that. Geneticists generally start here in order to begin to understand the wild world of hybridization.

• Mule: A mule is an animal born to a female horse and a male donkey.

• Hinny: An animal born to a donkey mother and horse father.

• Zorse: A zorse has a zebra father and a horse mother.

• Zebroid: Zebroid is another word for any zebra cross, including female zebras to a male horse (rare because female zebras are generally needed to breed more zebras.)

• Zony/Zeony: Offspring resulting from a male zebra to a pony.

• Zebrass/Zonkey/Ze-Donk: All terms given to a male zebra crossed with a female donkey.

• Pegasus: A legendary animal said to be a cross between a horse an a bird (usually an eagle.) Although popular in mythology this animal couldn't really exist.

Bovine hybrids are not terribly well known in the states but are common in other parts of the world. They are generally crosses that yield a more productive and multitasked animal. These animals are used for meat, for beasts of burden, for fiber, and for subtle curiosity.

• Beefalo: Crosses between buffalo and domestic beef cows.

• Yakow/Dzo: Cross between a domestic cow and a yak.

• Zubron: Hybrid of domestic cattle and a wisent (European Buffalo.)

Livestock animals are generally crossed for a purpose. The animals listed below are no different. Most are a breeder's attempt to gain more desirable characteristics in their herd, not just to create an interesting looking cross, as mankind seems to like to do with other species of animals. Some of these, of course, are just the occasional barnyard accident as well and completely unintentional on their keeper's part.

• Cama: Cross between a female llama and a male dromedary camel.

• Goat Sheep Hybrids: Since goats and sheep can interbreed so freely they haven't been specified with any particular title, although they are possible.

• Iron Age Pig: Domestic swine crossed with wild boars (not technically a hybrid as pigs and boars are of the same species.)

Canid hybrids are almost always the work of man, although some are viable to be created in the wild as well. We as a species are curious about the origins of dogs and often are mesmerized by wild canids. Sometimes this can result in breeding for a specified purpose, but most often these creations are more a product of our own insatiable curiosity then anything else. I have not included hybridizations including dingoes, New Guinea singing dogs, or other feral dog breeds because despite returning to the wild they are indeed the same animal as the common domestic dog (at least genetically speaking.)

• Wolf-Dogs: Wolf dog cross.

• Coy-Dogs: Male coyote crossed with female dog.

• Dogote: Female coyote crossed with male dog (only one recorded insisdence in the wild.)

• Coyote-Wolf: Coyote wolf cross.

• Huskals: Wolf jackal cross.

• Sulimov Dogs: Jackal dog cross.

• Beast of Gevaudan: Some speculate that a monster or beast that was said to have killed dozens of peasants in 18th century France could have been wolf-dog crosses bred by the arostocracy. Of course proof of this is impossible but it's an interesting theory.

Chinese proverb tells us man domesticated the cat so he could pet a tiger. This is a wise saying and probably at least partially true. Cat enthusiasts the world over have aspired to have a house pet with the wild and bold markings of some of their favorite wild species. This has caused some pretty interesting hybrids to result, usually in pursuit of this goal. This is a very tricky process and should not be taken lightly by any breeder. Crossing your tabby with a wild beast probably won't result in the image you have in your head, in fact you could create a house shredding monster. Nonetheless, we continue with our vast feline experiments. Of course some of these crossings came about in natural or accidental ways.

• Bengal: Domestic cat crossed with an Asian Leopard Cat.

• Bristol Cat: Domestic Cat crossed with a Margay.

• Cat/Bobcat or Cat/Lynx: These hybrids are genetically possible and do sometimes occur naturally. However reports that PixieBobs or other manxed cat breeds stem from this hybridization have all either been disproven or unsubstanciated.

• Chuasie/Stone Cougar: One of a number of breeds of domestic cat crossed with a Jungle Cat

• Savannah: Domestic cat crossed with a serval

• Safari: Domestic Cat crossed with Geoffroy's Cat

• Jungle-Bob: One of several breed of domestic cat bred with a Jungle Cat

• Machbagral: Domestic cat crossed with a Fishing Cat

• Punjabi: Domestic cat crossed with an Indian Desert Cat

Cats have long been a source of fascination for the human race and since they are such familiar figures anceint man and modern both like to speculate on what they can be crossed with and why.

• Cabbit: The infamous Cat Rabbit hybrid goes by many names but cabbit is probably the most common. There's a small nugget of truth in this urban legend as there really are cats out there who appear to be a cross of a bunny and a cat. However these cats are most often just badly bred Manx cats. They have no tail and a spinal deformity rounds their backs to look like a rabbit. Because of this mutation they often hop like a bunny. These characteristics should not be encouraged in a breeding population as this deformity can cause problems later in life.

• Cacoon: The cat crossed with a raccoon is most often attributed to the Maine Coon, a large fluffy cat that can have striped marking like a raccoon. Maine Coons are a breed of cat that originated in feral colonies to be large, muscular, and hardy, able to tough out the cold New England winters and hunt small vermin. Being an old breed however the people who first noticed (and named) them weren't educated on the wonderful world of genetics. They attributed the cats markings, fluffy tail, and sometimes extra toes to the fact it was a cross between a cat and a raccoon. This of course turned out not to be the case, as this particular pairing is impossible.

• Cat/Skunk Hybrids: Cat skunk hybrids are a collaboration of different stories from all over the US. Usually these are just black and white kittens that gain a foul smell from living outside dumpsters and other dirty environments. However there is one conspiracy theory that states that the first Ragdoll kittens were born to a mother who was ran over by a car and then ‘fixed' by a mad scientist vet who apparently had the knowledge to infuse skunk genes into her. This wild fabrication is a funny story but obviously has no basis in fact. Ragdoll cats can have skunk-like markings and they are large and fluffy but this is where their similarities end. They are indeed 100% feline.

• Giraffe: When giraffes were first described by Westerners they often said it was a mix between a leopard and a camel because it was spotted and had a body somewhat like that of a camel. Again, giraffe's are not closely related to cats or camels and cannot be interbred.

• Griffin/Gryphon: Gryphons were one fearsome beasts in Greek and Roman mythology. They were said to line their nests with gold and fiercely protect their territory. Of course what better a creature to do this then a lion crossed with an eagle. Current theories suggest Gryphons may have actually been ancient man trying to make sense of various fossil bones.

• Hyena: Hyenas were once thought to be a mix between a cat and a dog, perhaps with a touch of bear thrown in. Hyenas are in fact not closely related to dogs, cats, or bears. They are their own species.

• Munchkin: Munchkin cats are short-legged cats who are sometimes said to be a cross of a cat to a ferret or raccoon. These stories probably started as a joke. Munchkin cats are just domestic cats carrying a feline dwarfing gene (which has the effect of eliminating the cats ankle and knee, making a short statured cat.)

• Ocicat: Ocicats sometimes are said to be a cross between a cat and an ocelot but this isn't the case. Ocicats can trace their ancestry back only to other cat breeds and not to ocelots.

• Squitton: The squitton, or squirrel cat hybrid finds itself in the mythology of several cultures across the world. Generally these are just normal cats with big fluffy gray tails or cats with an affinity for standing on two legs.

Wild cat hybrids have been documented sparingly in the wild but have always been popular within captive populations. The arostocracy of times past bred them for noevlty, scientists have bred them for genetic experiments, and zoos continue to breed them for exibit. otherwise they are not domesticated, nor do they serve any specific domestic purpose. Most small wild cats can be bred together, as most large wild cats can be bred together.

• Servical: Serval male crossed with a caracal female.

• Marlot: Margay ocelot cross.

• Blynx: Bob-cat crossed with another lynx species.

• Euro-Chaus: European Wild Cat crossed with a Jungle Cat

• Jungle-Lynx: Jungle cat crossed with a Lynx or Bob-cat

• Ocelot-Cougar Hybrids: One reported pairing did produce offspring but there were no survivors.

• Liger: Male lion crossed with a female tiger.

• Tigon: Male tiger crossed with a female lion.

• Jagion: Male jaguar crossed with a lioness.

• Leopon: Male leopard crossed with a lioness.

• Dogla: Male leopard crossed with a tigress.

• Leguar: Leopard male crossed with jaguar female.

• Liguar: Male lion crossed with a female leopard.

• Tiguar: Male tiger crossed with a female Jaguar

• Tigard: Male tiger crossed with female leopard.

• Liard: Male lion crossed with a female leopard.

• Pumapard: Cougar crossed with leopard.

Primates are one of the few groups of hybrids which actually occur more often in the wild then they do in captivity. Gibbons have been known to interbreed freely to create hybrid offspring, a considerable problem when uninformed zoos are concerned. Many monkey species can cross and the offspring can sometimes be indistinguishable from one of its 'pure' parents. Baboons can interbreed with macaques and rhesus monkeys (the latter due to human activity.) Similarly Bornean and Sumatran Orangutans can interbreed, but unlike the others listed their offspring are often weak and infertile in comparison. This brings us to the most taboo hybrid of them all, human hybrids. Technically speaking it's not likely humans can have viable offspring with most other primate species. However chimpanzees are fairly closely related to us and experiments have been reported since the turn of the century in America and the former USSR. These experiments either came up with nothing or they did come up with something that was hence covered up. Laws restrict anyone from repeating these experiments, especially with laboratory manipulation (test tube babies.) The suspected offspring have been called Humanzees and one chimp, named Oliver, was suspected to be one because of his relatively flat face and habit of walking on two feet (unnatural for a chimp to do without training or for long distances.) In his old age Oliver has told us once and for all, with a donation of his blood, that he is indeed just a strange mutation of chimp, not a humanzee.

Proof of human hybridization was however found a few years back when anthropologists unearthed the 24,000 year old grave of a young boy in Portugal. The child shared 50% of it's characteristics with the strong and stout Neanderthal and 50% with those of modern humans. A theory was then taken into consideration that Neanderthals may have not gone extinct but rather were absorbed into our own population through interbreeding. If this is indeed the case we'll probably never know, though it is an interesting line of thought. Neanderthals were presumably close enough to us genetically to interbreed as we shared the same evolutionary branch and have been theorized to be cousins as far as species go.