The tigon, the zezel and even the splint. Words that sound strange to our ears. Yet there are creatures in our world who carry these names. Reproduction between two different animal species is rare, but not non-existent. Their offspring are called hybrids. What is that such a hybrid and which animal hybrids exist?
The hybrid
Organisms that look alike can only be given the umbrella name ‘species’ when they can reproduce among themselves and have fertile offspring. A hybrid is the product of reproduction between two different species. In most cases, it is mainly the external characteristics of the mother that manifest themselves in their young. In general, the rule is that a hybrid cannot form a species on their own as they often cannot give birth to young.
Hybrids are in many cases the product of human intervention. We can confine two different animal species together and thus allow (or even force them to the extent possible) to reproduce. The birth of a liger, a cross between a lion and a tiger, would never have been possible without humans. The species do not occur in the same geographic area. As you notice in the case of the liger, naming a hybrid is easier than the taxonomic classification. Often one makes a contraction of the species names of both parents.
Successful hybrids
Mule and mule
A mule results from the crossing of a male donkey and a mare (= female horse), the mule from the reverse combination. These hybrids are actively bred because they combine the best of both worlds. The combination of the intellect and the gait of the donkey with the strength of the horse makes both the mule and the mule very suitable as pack animals.
The Africanized honey bee
This pairing of the African honey bee and its European variety is particularly notorious under the name ‘killer bee’. The species that is now thriving in South Africa was entirely man-made. Warwich E. Kerr in the 1950s had a desire to create a congregation that could produce more honey than others. He conducts his experiments in Brazil. However, one of Kerr’s beekeepers accidentally lets swarms of African bees escape. These spread rapidly across South America and mate with the populations of European honey bees there. The DNA of the aggressive African bees is more dominant than that of the European and the result was the emergence of a new, incredibly aggressive bee species in South America. Today their habitat even extends to the southern states of North America. The killer bee is often referred to as the most successful invasive species in the world.
Beefalo
The beefalo is in most cases the name given to the young of a male bovine and a female American bison. Because of the many different cattle breeds that exist, the beefalo can therefore be a composition of a large number of different animals. If the hybrid is more than 3 / 8th bison, one no longer speaks of the beefalo but simply of a bison hybrid. The beefalo is mainly cultivated because it offers many advantages over traditional beef. For example, they are more resilient, grow faster and calves more easily. Their meat is also said to be healthier than the beef we are used to eating.
Dzo and dzomo
This animal originates from the pairing of cattle and a yak and can be compared to the beefalo. The dzo is the male offspring, the dzomo the female, regardless of which parent is male and which is female. In Tibet and Mongolia, the animal is popular because it can carry heavier loads than a yak and produces more milk and meat.
Savannah
When an African serval and a house cat have offspring, the children are given the name ‘savannah’. This officially recognized breed of cats is distinguished from other cats by their loyalty. This leads many people to regard the savannah as the dog in the cat world. A savannah itself can be trained to learn to walk on a leash. In addition, a hybrid can jump much higher than one would expect from a normal cat. Even without run-up, they can jump up to 2.5 meters high.
Hybrid camel
The popularity of this hybrid derived from the dromedary and the camel is decreasing more and more. It used to be a popular animal to brave the Silk Road with. The hybrid camel had the dromedary’s persistence and the camel’s ability to withstand drought. So it was a perfect animal to cover the long distances through the desert.
Wolfhound
Certain dog breeds are easy to cross with the wild wolf. This is done to combine the desired character traits or for aesthetic reasons. An example of this is the Czechoslovak wolfhound.
Exceptional hybrids
There are a whole series of hybrids that are born exceptionally. Well-known examples are:
- The zezel (zebra x donkey)
- Yawn (male goat x female sheep)
- Separates (male sheep x female goat)
- Liger (male lion x female tiger)
- Teeuw (male tiger x female lion)
- Whale (killer whale x dolphin)
- …
In addition to the above hybrids, many combinations are possible. It is even possible that only one case of a hybrid is known. An elephant named Motty, born at Chester Zoo, witnesses this. There is no known case of crossbreeding between the African and the Indian elephant. Unfortunately, Motty died after just two weeks.