Top 10 Coolest Animal Hybrids

<Some of these animals might be on our site and some may not.>

1. Liger

The Liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger, thus both its parents are from the Panthera genus, but from different species. Ligers are the biggest of all the big cats, growing to almost the lion and tigers combined size. They carry characteristics from both parents, for instance their love of swimming from tigers and their highly social behavior from lions. 

2. Coywolf

The Coywolf is essentially a Coyote and a wolf hybrid, that regularly occurs in nature. So regular, in fact, that all known red wolves have been found to have coyote genes in their lineage. It is not clear whether this inbreeding has occurred as a result of Human development limiting their natural habitat, or if the Red wolf has just always been a hybrid. This animal has caused a lot of problems in the Canid taxonomy, as hybrids are not usually referred to as a different species, though convention would call the red wolf a sub species of the wolf, leaving its Latin name without a mention of its coyote genes.

3. Wolf Dog

Wolf dogs can better be described as companions than pets. They are smarter than most "domestic" breeds of dogs, are self aware, aware of their surroundings, will challenge even the most experienced caretakers with their stubbornness and "what's in it for me" attitude, and in general are the most predictable canine as wolves are the model for canine behavior and wolfdogs tend to display emotions very well.

4. Savannah Cat

The Savannah is a fairly modern domestic cat creation that was accepted as a new breed in 2001, by the International Cat Association. This cat is a hybrid of the domestic cat and the wild African Serval. Savannah’s are a lot more social than most domestic cat breeds, and have often been compared to dogs because of their extreme loyalty. The Savannah is a large cat with a very slim body. They are the highest jumpers, and the tallest cats in the cat world. Savannah’s can come in almost all colors, depending on what domestic cat was bred with the serval, they will always, however, have that spotted or marbled appearance. Depending on what generation hybrid the savannah is, will determine how wild and large the cat appears, and they often look very similar to a miniature version of a cheetah.

5. Zorse

A zorse is a "zebroid"—the generic name for all zebra hybrids. Types of zebroids include the zony, which is a cross between a zebra stallion and pony mare, as well as the zedonk (a.k.a. zonkey or zebronkey), a cross between a Zebra stallion and donkey jenny. Zebroids can be pretty feisty and are said to be much more temperamental and difficult to handle than purebred horses

6.  Grolar Bear

Because polar bears and grizzlies both live by themselves in large open habitats, the probability of these two coming together as star-crossed lovers is slim. Althoughgrolar bear sightings have been reported in the past, neither species can survive long in the other’s ecological niche; plus, they have very different social and feeding behaviours. In 2006, near Sachs Harbour in the Northwest Territories, a hunter from Idaho named Jim Martell found and shot a grizzly–polar bear hybrid, believing it was a normal polar bear. Had the bear been deemed a grizzly, he would have faced a possible $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail.

7. Wholpins

This is a very rare hybrid, between a false killer whale and a bottlenose dolphin. Wolphins are a perfect example of a cross-breed, as their shape, color and size are very much intermediate between dolphins and whales. As of today, only two such wolphins exist, which can be seen at Sea Life Park, Hawaii.

8. Blood Parrot Cichild

An unusual, bright orange colored fish, that has a red body and deformed swim bladders, is the blood parrot. The fish is thought to have been bred from a severum and red devil cichlid or possibly from a midas cichlid and a redhead cichlid. Another deformity is its beak-like mouth, due to which feeding this fish becomes a hard task for the owner. Many are against such unusual hybrids and there have been moves to remove from the market and from other pet stores.

9.  Leopon

The cross between a lioness and lepoard which is really rare as usually the lioness is much larger than a leopard and this mating in the wild would usually result in the death of the leopard.

10. Sheep Pig

This is a sheep-pig. Unfortunately, they're not actually part-sheep. They are, however, a cross between a pig and a super-duper rare pig called a Lincolnshire curly coat.

                            What do you think of our list?
                                          Leave your comments below.


Info Taken from http://scribol.com/environment/10-incredible-animal-hybrids/10 

                          http://www.viralnova.com/real-animal-hybrids/
                         http://www.readersdigest.ca/pets/breeds/8-strange-animal-hybrids
                         http://www.weirdworm.com/7-coolest-animal-cross-breeds/2/
                        http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photos/11-amazing-hybrid-animals/mixing-things-up
                        http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/w/wolfdog.htm  

Leopon

A leopon is a hybrid resulting from the crossing of a male leopard with a lioness. The head of the animal is similar to that of a lion while the rest of the body carries similarities to leopards. These hybrids are produced in captivity and are unlikely to occur in the wild.

Description

It is spotted like a leopard, but that the spots on its sides were smaller and closer set than those of an Indian leopard and were brown and indistinct like the fading spots of a juvenile lion. The spots on the head, spine, belly and legs were black and distinct. The tail was spotted on the topside and striped underneath and had a blackish tip with longer hairs. The underside was dirty white, the ears were fawn and had a broad black bar but did not have the white spot found in leopards.

One of the interesting facts about leopons is that, unlike lions, they're good climbers. They also enjoy water, which often distresses their lioness mothers.

Info Taken: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopon:

What do you think of the Leopon? A penny for your thoughts?

Do you think it should not be bred at all or do you think its one awesome combination of cats?

Haldane's Rule

Haldane's rule applies to the vast majority of heterogametic organisms examined. These include both male heterogametic and female heterogametic, and some dioecious plants such as Silene. It appears to be a general pattern associated with heterogamety.

Hybrid dysfunction (sterility and inviability) is a major form of postzygotic reproductive isolation, which occurs in early stages of speciation. The fact that evolution can produce such a similar pattern of isolation in a vast array of different organisms is striking. However, the actual mechanisms leading to this result in divergent taxa remains largely undefined. The basis by which the heterogametic sex becomes more susceptible to hybrid inferiority (sterility or inviability) has been a focus of theoretical and empirical explorations that have greatly enriched our understanding of sexual reproduction and speciation.

Liger

What is it?

The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion (Panthera leo) and a tigress (Panthera tigris). Thus, it has parents with the same genus but of different species. It is distinct from the similar hybrid tigon. It is the largest of all known extantfelines.

Ligers enjoy swimming, which is a characteristic of tigers, and are very sociable like lions. Ligers exist only in captivity because the habitats of the parental species do not overlap in the wild. Historically, when the Asiatic Lion was prolific, the territories of lions and tigers did overlap and there are legends of ligers existing in the wild. Notably, ligers typically grow larger than either parent species, unlike tigons which tend to be about as large as a female tiger and is the cross between a male tiger and a lioness.

The size and length

The liger is often believed to represent the largest known cat in the world. Males reach a total length of 3 to 3.5 m, meaning they are bigger than large Siberian tiger males. Imprinted genes may be a factor contributing to huge liger size. These are genes that may or may not be expressed on the parent they are inherited from, and that occasionally play a role in issues of hybrid growth. For example, in some dog breed crosses, genes that are expressed only when maternally-inherited cause the young to grow larger than is typical for either parent breed. This growth is not seen in the paternal breeds, as such genes are normally "counteracted" by genes inherited from the female of the appropriate breed.

Other big cat hybrids can reach similar sizes; the litigon, a rare hybrid of a male lion and a female tigon, is roughly the same size as the liger, with a male named Cubanacan (at the Alipore Zoo in India) reaching 363 kg (800 lb) The extreme rarity of these second-generation hybrids may make it difficult to ascertain whether they are larger or smaller, on average, than the liger.

It is wrongly believed that ligers continue to grow throughout their lives due to hormonal issues. It may be that they simply grow far more during their growing years and take longer to reach their full adult size. Further growth in shoulder height and body length is not seen in ligers over 6 years old, same as both lions and tigers. Male ligers also have the same levels of testosterone on average as an adult male lion, yet are azoospermic in accordance with Haldane's rule. In addition, female ligers may also attain great size, weighing approximately 320 kg (705 lb) and reaching 3.05 m (10 ft) long on average, and are often fertile. In contrast, pumapards (hybrids between pumas and leopards) tend to exhibit dwarfism.

Info taken from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger

Wolf Dog

Normal dogs have always originated from wolves. Their snouts grow shorter and their bodies stockier and not built to kill and hunt.

However, Wolf Dogs is a canid hybrid resulting from the mating of a gray wolf (various Canis lupus subspecies) and a dog (Canis lupus familiaris).

Wolf dog legislation in breed

The wolf dog hybrid has been the center of controversy for much of its history, and most breed-specific legislation is either the result of the animal's perceived danger or its categorization as protected native wildlife. The Humane Society of the United States, the RSPCA, Ottawa Humane Society, the Dogs Trust and the Wolf Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission consider wolf dogs to be wild animals and therefore unsuitable as pets, and support an international ban on the private possession, breeding, and sale of wolfdogs.

According to the National Wolfdog Alliance, 40 U.S. states effectively forbid the ownership, breeding, and importation of wolfdogs, while others impose some form of regulation upon ownership. In Canada, the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island prohibit wolf dogs as pets. Most European nations either outlaw the animal entirely or put restrictions on ownership. Wolf dogs were among the breeds banned from the U.S. Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton and elsewhere after a fatal dog attack by a pit bull on a child.

Description

Wolf dogs tend to have somewhat smaller heads than pure wolves, with larger, pointier ears that lack the dense fur commonly seen in those of wolves. Fur markings also tend to be very distinctive and not well blended. Black coloured hybrids tend to retain black pigment longer as they age, compared to black wolves. In some cases, the presence of dewclaws on the hind feet is considered a useful, but not absolute indicator of dog gene contamination in wild wolves. Dewclaws are the vestigial first toes, which are common on the hind legs of domestic dogs but thought absent from pure wolves, which only have four hind toes. Observations on wild wolf hybrids in the former Soviet Union indicate that wolf hybrids in a wild state may form larger packs than pure wolves, and have greater endurance when chasing prey. High wolf-content hybrids typically have longer canine teeth than dogs of comparable size, with some officers in the South African Defence Force commenting that the animals are capable of biting through the toughest padding "like a knife through butter". Their sense of smell apparently rivals that of most established scenthounds. Tests undertaken in the Perm Institute of Interior Forces in Russia demonstrated that high wolf-content hybrids took 15–20 seconds to track down a target in training sessions, whereas ordinary police dogs took 3–4 minutes.

Info taken from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfdog

Aggression

Wolf Dogs generally have a good temperament, however, they have the hunting instincts of a wolf. When they see someone flailing their arms about, they see this as an animal struggling and would bite the person's ankle like what a wolf will do, so that their prey will fall and they can go in for the kill as his or her neck would have been exposed. Thus, it is unwise to keep a wolf dog when there are young children around as children tend to wave their arms around when playing.

A documentary was done on this incredible cross-breed by Cesar Milan, " the Best Dog Trainer". Search him up on youtube to see more videos!

After watching that video, comment below if you think cross-breeding this particular animal is right or wrong.

Cross-breeding = save animals from extinction?

In some ways it can. For example, the hybrid or crossbreed offspring of the endangered animal might have inherited traits from its other parent that can help them survive in climate change.

But scientists argue that the frequency of such hybridization is disconcerting. It's as if two groups had long been living separately, but in adjacent rooms, and suddenly man came along and pushed open the door between them. In the end, it's conceivable that only hybrids will survive. This is currently happening with coyotes and wolves in North America, as well as BETWEEN TWO types of flying squirrel.

Another problem is that the offspring are infertile, the animals are expending unnecessary energy in raising their young without passing on their genes. For example, in THE CASE of North Pacific right whales, whose numbers have dwindled to only 200, it would spell the extinction of the species. It is true that in evolution, not every mistake is necessarily a flaw. But hybrids are usually inferior to their parents, because they are not as well adapted to their environments.

What do you think? Pause and think about it for a moment, then comment below your opinion.

Hybrid Cross-Breeds or Mixed Cross-Breeds?

What is a Hybrid Cross-Breed?

A hybrid animal is one with parentage of two separate species, differentiating it from crossbred animals, which have parentage of the same species. Hybrids are usually, but not always, sterile.

One of the most ancient types of hybrid animal is the mule, a cross between a female horse and a male donkey . The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion and female tiger. The yattle is a cross between a cow and a yak. Other crosses include the tigon (between a female lion and male tiger) and yakalo (between a yak and buffalo). The Incas recognized that hybrids of Lama glama (llama) and Lama pacos (alpaca) resulted in a hybrid with none of the advantages of either parent.

At one time it was thought that dogs and wolves were separate species, and the crosses between dogs and wolves were called wolf hybrids. Today wolves and dogs are both recognized as Canis lupus, but the old term "wolf hybrid" is still used.

Info from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossbreed#Hybrid_animal

Picture of Tigons

What is a Mixed Cross-Breed?

A mixed-breed animal is defined as having undocumented or unknown parentage, while a crossbreed generally has known, usually purebred parents of two distinct breeds or varieties. A dog of unknown parentage is often called a mixed breed dog, "mutt" or "mongrel." A cat of unknown parentage is often referred to as domestic short-haired or domestic long-haired cat generically, and in some dialects is often called a "moggy". A horse of unknown bloodlines is a grade horse.

Info from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossbreed#Mixed_breeds

What do you think is the difference between the Hybrid Cross-Breeds and the Mixed Cross-Breeds? Ponder over this and comment you answer below.

What is Animal Cross-Breeding?

 This is a picture of a labradoodle which is the mix of labrador and poodle.

A crossbreed or crossbred usually refers to an animal with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations.

Crossbreeding, sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", refers to the process of breeding such an animal, often with the intention to create offspring that share the traits of both parent lineages, or producing an animal with hybrid vigor. While crossbreeding is used to maintain health and viability of animals, irresponsible crossbreeding can also produce animals of inferior quality or dilute a purebred gene pool to the point of extinction of a given breed of animal.

The term is also used at times to refer to a domestic animal of unknown ancestry where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, though the term "mixed breed" is technically more accurate. The term outcross is used to describe a type of crossbreeding used within a purebred breed to increase the genetic diversity within the breed, particularly when there is a need to avoid inbreeding.

Info from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossbreed

Would you like a cross-bred animal for a pet?

If yes, comment yes and state which animal you would want.

If no, comment no and state why.