Animal hybrids - not as cool as they look

It’s fun to think that we can smash two different species together and the result is something cool like a Liger or a Zorse - although the animals come from the same genus, each species has a different number of chromosomes and the result of that is often very unconventional – just because we can interbreed them doesn’t mean we should.

For example, today there is plenty concoctions going around in the big cat family. Humans have managed to produce hydrids with names like the Tigon which is a cross between a female lion and male tiger (Ligers are technically the opposite) there’s also Leopons (Leopard crossed with a Lion) and even a Jagulpes (Jaguar crossed with a Leopard). Pair a Liger with a male Lion and you get a little Liliger (literally). Dwarfism is one of the most common defects when interbreeding species. Some have even gone as far as taking a female Tigon and mixing it with a male Ligon and  voilà – we have something called a Litigon or many Tiligers or even Titigons!

In Dubai the camel industry is booming, and the scientific director of the CRC (Camel Reproduction Centre) says that  they have “successfully” bred 6 (infertile) Comas, a cross between a camel and a llama – the result is an animal larger than the original llama but more manageable in size than the camel, but with the good quality coat of the llama. Why bother making this hybrid you may ask? Because it’s bigger, technically there’s more wool. Sounds like a lot of effort just for a little extra wool.

Interbreeding has proven to be the most irresponsible form of breeding in this modern day and age and is a deed done only for greed with absolutely no conservation value at all – something to think about the next time you’re at a zoo ogling at that strange and interesting looking animal in a cage.