"Naturally" bred hybrids (non GMO)
Ti-Liger, Ti-Tigon, Li-Tigon, Li-Liger
It is a cross breed between a male tiger and a female liger/Tigon or a
male lion with a female Tigon/liger. Do note that female ligers or Tigons
are fertile. They are extremely rare and are in mostly private ownership
within a behavioral studies programmed. In the case of ti-ligers, they
have unusual striping where it breaks up and display a blotchy appearance.
Since they are 3/4 tiger, their characteristics inhibit more of those of a
tiger than a lion.
Liger/Tigon.
Ligers are crossbreeds between a male lion while Male Ligers are sterile
while the females are often fertile. Below shows a liger and its trainer
Dr. Bhagavan Antle at a Renaissance Festival in Massachusetts, USA,
October 2005.
Wolf 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 a wolf behavior or dog behavior or something in
between. Obedience training is a must in order to tame the animal.
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.
Zebroid.
A zorse is the result of crossbreeding a horse and a zebra. A zonkey is
the result of crossbreeding a donkey with a zebra. The Zony is the result
of crossbreeding a pony to a zebra. All these three are called zebroids
– defined as a cross between a zebra and any other equid. Zebroids are
preferred over zebra for practical uses such as riding because of its body
shape. However it is more inclined to be temperamental and can prove to be
difficult to handle.
A Zorse.
Cama.
A Cama is a hybrid between a camel and a llama. They are born via
artificial insemination due to the huge difference in sizes of the animals
which disallow natural breeding. A Cama usually has the short ears and
long tails of a camel but the cloven hooves of a llama. Also most
noticeably is the absence of the hump.
Rama’s parents shown behind, a camel and llama.
This is Rama the Cama at two days old.
Rama at two years of age as a young adult.
Grolar, Pizzly.
A grolar/pizzly hybrid is the product of a grizzly bear and a polar bear.
Although the two bears are genetically similar, they tend to avoid each
other in the wild. During 16 April 2006, a hybrid bear was shot dead by
Jim Martell, a hunter from the United States, in Canada. It was the first
time a hybrid was found in the wild where previous records of grolars or
pizzlies have only been found in zoos.
A grolar, pizzly displayed at the Rothschild Museum, Tring,
copyright Sarah Hartwell
Leopon.
A Leopon is the result of breeding a male leopard and a female lion. The
head of the animal is similar to that of a lion while the rest of the
bodies carries similarities to leopards. The most successful breeding
programmed was at the Koshien Hanshin Park in Nishinomiya City, Japan.
Leopons are larger than leopards and likes to climb and enjoy water.
Hybrid Pheasant.
The Golden Pheasant
(yellow head and black eye with yellow
eyelash) has commonly been
crossed with the similar Lady Amherst’s Pheasant. The result is a hybrid
with distinguished colors from its parents.
A Golden Pheasant
A Lady Amherst Pheasant
Hybrid Pheasant displayed at Rothschild Museum Copyright Sarah
Hartwell
Wolphin.
A wolphin is a rare hybrid formed from a cross between a bottlenose
dolphin and a false killer whale. There are currently only two in
captivity at the Sea Life Park in Hawaii. A wolphin’s size, color and
shape are intermediate between the parent species. The first captive
wolphin was Kekaimalu, which shows mixed heritage even in its teeth:
bottlenose dolphins have 88, false killer whales have 44 and Kekaimalu has
66!
Transgenic animals are used as experimental models to perform phenotypic and for testing in biomedical research. Other applications include the production of human hormones such as insulin.
In biological research, transgenic fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) are model organisms used to study the effects of genetic changes on development. Fruit flies are often preferred over other animals due to their short life cycle, low maintenance requirements, and relatively simple genome compared to many vertebrates.
Genetically modified mammals are an important category of genetically modified organisms. Transgenic mice are often used to study cellular and tissue-specific responses to disease.
In 1999, scientists at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada created the genetically engineered Enviropig™. The Enviropig excretes from 30 to 70.7% less phosphorus in manure depending upon the age and diet. In February 2010, Environment Canada determined that Enviropigs are in compliance with the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and can be produced outside of the research context in controlled facilities where they are segregated from other animals.
In 2009, scientists in Japan announced that they had successfully transferred a gene into a primate species (marmosets) and produced a stable line of breeding transgenic primates for the first time.
Cnidarians such as Hydra and the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis have become attractive model organisms to study the evolution of immunity and certain developmental processes. An important technical breakthrough was the development of procedures for generation of stably transgenic hydras and sea anemones by embryo microinjection.
Genetically modified fish have promoters driving an over-production of "all fish" growth hormone. This resulted in dramatic growth enhancement in several species, including salmonids, carps and tilapias.