16 Amazing hybrid animals

Here are 16 fascinating cross breed animals.

16. Beefalo

Beefalo is the fertile offspring of domestic cattle and American bison that produces red meat lower in fat and cholesterol than beef.

15. Blood Parrot

Blood parrot is the hybrid offspring of a green or gold Severum with the red devil or possibly the midas cichlid and the redhead cichlid. This hybrid cichlid has various anatomical deformities. One of its obvious deformities is in its mouth that only has very narrow vertical opening. This makes blood parrot very hard to feed.

14. Iron Age Pig

Domestic Tamworth pigs are crossbred with wild boar to create ‘Iron Age Pigs’. The hybrids are tamer than wild boar but less tractable than domestic swine and generally become specialist pork sausages. Most of them are bred for the specialist meat trade.

13. Dzo

Dzo is a hybrid of a yak and domestic cattle (usually a cow), which is stronger and larger than its parent. The word dzo technically refers to a male hybrid, while a female is known as a dzomo or zhom. Dzo is often used as a ‘pack animal’, for transporting heavy goods high up in the mountains.

12. Żubroń

Żubroń is a hybrid of domestic cattle and a European bison or wisent. Zubron is known to survive in very harsh weather conditions and very strong. This is one of the reasons that they are more durable as a possible replacement for cattle.

Pleple2000

11. Cama

A Cama is a hybrid between a camel and a llama. The very first Cama was born in Dubai on Jan. 14th, 1998. Cama is born via artificial insemination due to the huge difference in sizes which disallow natural breeding. Cama have no hump and have the fleece of a llama. It also has long legs and the great strength of a camel.

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10. Mangalitsa

Also known as ‘curly-hair-hog’, Mangalitsa is a highly specialized Hungarian breed. Created in 1833, this wooly pig resembles a boar and produces very tasty high-quality meat.

9. Hybrid Pheasant

The Golden Pheasant has commonly been crossed with the similar Lady Amherst’s Pheasant. The result is a hybrid with distinguished colors from its parents.

8. Zebroid

Zebroid is name for any cross between zebra and any other equine: essentially a horse or a donkey. Some very fascinating examples include Zorse (zebra and horse), Zedonk (zebra and donkey), and Zony (zebra and pony). Zebroid is a remarkable case of hybrid bred from species that have a totally different number of chromosomes. For instance, horses have 64 chromosomes and zebra have between 32 and 44 (depending on species).

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zorse

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7. Sheep-goat

Sheep-goat is hybrid from offspring of two species from different genus, a sheep and a goat. Though mating between the two is known to occur, the offspring most often is stillborn. Even so, live births have occurred in Botswana in 2000, called the "Toast of Botswana". The animal was born naturally from the mating of a female goat with a male sheep that were kept together. It had a coarse outer coat, a woolly inner coat, long goat-like legs and a heavy sheep-like body.

6. Wolphin

Cross a false killer whale and a bottlenose dolphin and you will get a Wolphin. Wolphin is hybrid that has been reported to exist in the wild. As of today, there are only two in captivity at the Sea Life Park in Hawaii. A Wolphin’s size, colour and shape are intermediate between the parent species. The first captive Wolphin, Kekaimalu, shows mixed heritage in its teeth: bottlenose dolphins have 88, false killer whales have 44 and Kekaimalu has 66.

By Mark Interrante from Silicon Valley, USA

5. Glorar Bear

A Grolar Bear is a rare ursid hybrid that has occurred both in captivity and in the wild. The occurrence of this offspring of a grizzly bear and a polar bear in nature was confirmed in 2006 using DNA technique, when a hunter shot dead this rare hybrid on Banks Island in the Canadian arctic.

4. 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 bodies carry similarities to leopards. The most successful breeding programme was at the Koshien Hanshin Park in Nishinomiya City, Japan. Leopon is larger than leopard and likes to climb and enjoy water.

3. Wolfdog

A Wolfdog is a hybrid resulting from the mating of a wolf and a dog. Dogs and wolves tend to crossbreed rather freely. The wolf is a shy animal depending on nuances in body language, facial expression and on hunting skills to survive. Their jaws are much stronger than those of a dog and are often used to exert dominance. For a dog wolf hybrid, it is not known when it will display wolf behaviour or dog behaviour or something in between. Obedience training is a must in order to tame the animal.

2. Liger

Liger is a hybrid cross between different species of the same genus. Liger is a crossbreed of a male Panthera leo (lion), and a female Panthera tigris (Tiger). A similar hybrid, the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion is called a Tigon. Liger is the largest of all living cats and felines. This amazing animal has both lion and tiger characteristics. Liger love to swim like tiger and very social like lion.

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1. Savannah Cat

A Savannah cat is a hybrid between a serval (a medium-sized, large-eared wild African cat) and a domestic cat. Savannah cat is much more social than typical domestic cat and though  it's loyal like a dog. It can be trained to walk on a leash and even taught to play fetch.

By Jason Douglas

Sources: Environmental Graffiti, Mother Nature Network, Oddee, Hemmy.net