Dragon City game, where you build your own dragon farm, was very popular in the years when games on Facebook were widely played. In this game, you could raise dragons belonging to different elements and get new species by breeding the ones you wanted. It remained a question mark in the minds of those who were interested in these, whether this could actually happen, that is, among animals.
We will look at it from the window of science and share with you under what conditions this will be possible or not, and in addition to this, some possibilities that may be encountered in cases where it is possible. Then you will see creatures born out of scenarios where these interspecies reproduction is possible.
Let’s answer the basic question first: Yes, it is possible for different species to give birth to a hybrid creature.
But we can’t just go and wait for a cat and a dog or a leopard and a hippopotamus to do it. Even if a suitable environment is provided for these animals, the expected mating will not be achieved due to their natural characteristics. So what animals can we expect this from?
We can expect this from the felines, the lion and the tiger. Or it could be a hybrid offspring of a polar bear and a brown bear. Or a zebra and a horse, or a horse and a donkey pair can have offspring. In other words, if we consider the similarity of the animals we have mentioned, we can say that the proximity of animals on the phylogenetic tree increases the probability of survival of the offspring.
DNA from parents of the same species produces similar results (as in humans). When the species are different, we have many possibilities:
- A creature named geep (goat+sheep), which is fed by goat and sheep mating
The hybrid that emerges in one of these possibilities lags behind both parents (in terms of species) and therefore does not have a very good chance of survival. In some cases there are hybrids that die as soon as they are born or even before they are born.
In some scenarios, it is seen that the resulting hybrid is able to survive, even being stronger than the species of its parents. Sometimes it is seen that one parent is closer to the species than the other. The possibilities vary in this way.
So how do these animals come together?
There are many different factors that cause this. For example, immigration is one of them. Animals that have to go to a different place from where they are currently can mate with the species there. Of course, we have to point out that this is not as simple as it seems.
Apart from this, the fact that we are expanding city areas also causes animals to go to different places. In this context, animals living in different places but belonging to the same family may encounter each other. But the most common one is that they are in the same environment in zoos. After making our necessary explanations, let’s take a look at hybrid creatures born from different species and their names.
Grolar, resulting from the mating of brown bear and polar bear species:
Coming from distant species, Grolar also have the ability to reproduce.
Liger (Lion+Tiger), which emerges from the mating of lion and tiger… Meet the lion that loves water
The hybrid that occurs when the lion is male and the tiger is female is called liger.
On the contrary, the creature that emerges from the scenario in which the tiger is male and the lion is female is known as tigon.
The following creature, called a wholphin (whale+dolphin), is named Keikaimalu:
The word Whale actually means whale, but this creature has nothing to do with whales. Rather, it is the result of the dolphin species known as the false killer whale mating with the bottlenose dolphin.
Leopon (leopard + lion), which is encountered by mating a lioness and a male leopard:
These species, seen long ago, were most successfully bred in Japan. But this situation drew a great reaction in a short time. It is highly unlikely that this encounter will take place in nature, on the grounds that a leopard will die in a possible encounter.
The species born by a male jaguar and a lioness: Jaglion
These two hybrids, which emerged in 2006, are thought to be solitary examples of the species. The black one is called Jazhara and the other is Tsunami.
Difficulty consisting of zebra and horse mating (zebra+horse)
Hybrids born from zebra species often have a similar appearance to the animal they are mating with. While this is happening, the patterns on the zebras are preserved in the resulting hybrid. But for the most part, these hybrids cannot reproduce.
The situation of the mule we are used to is similar to this:
Mules born from the mating of a male donkey and a female horse are known to be sterile. In other words, they cannot reproduce themselves unless the same mating is provided.
If you know of different hybrid animals, you can share them in the comments section.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
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