Hybrid Animals
Hybrid animals are the offspring of interspecific breeding. Interspecific hybrids are bred by mating two species from within the same genus. The offspring of this cross is often sterile, so both species are kept distinct. The most well-known example of a hybrid animal is a mule, which is a cross between a male donkey and a female horse. Other examples are ligers (between a male lion and female tiger), pizzly (grizzly-polar bear hybrid), wholphin (between a female bottlenose dolphin and a male false killer whale), and many more. The Lonicera Fly is the first known animal species that resulted from natural hybridization.
Not all animals can cross breed as they may belong to different animal groups. Also, when animals do crossbreed it typically happens within a domestic type of setting and not in the wilderness. This is due to animals carrying out different social behaviors that prevent them from cross-breeding.
Hybrid animals cannot reproduce as they are almost always born sterile. Hybrid animals do not often reproduce since they do not have the necessary sex cells and are not able to produce sperm or eggs. This is due to the chromosomes of their parents not matching up.
The rarest hybrid animals include ligers which are the hybrid of the male lion and female tiger, tigon the hybrid of the male tiger and female lion, as well as the wholphin the hybrid of the false killer whale and dolphin. Other hybrid animals are the leopon, grolar bear, and zebroid.
