hybrid animal

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Blue Whales Carry Surprising Levels of Another Species' DNA

North Atlantic blue whales receiving fin whale DNA through mating with hybrid offspring

(Newser) - The blue whale population has started to recover from the devastation brought by commercial whaling in the early 20th century. But the world's largest ever animal isn't quite the same. In analyzing the genomes of Balaenoptera musculus musculus—the "most endangered" of four subspecies of blue whale,...

Woolly Mammoths Could Be 'De-Extinct' in 2 Years

According to a 'maverick geneticist'

(Newser) - This whole nostalgia thing is getting out of control because scientists are about to bring back the woolly mammoth, the Guardian reports. Harvard professor George Church—who New Scientist calls a "maverick geneticist"—is leading a "de-extinction" team that says it's about two years away from...

The Higgs Bison Solves a Few Ancient Mysteries

The ancient animal was the rare hybrid mammal

(Newser) - Approximately 120,000 years ago, the now-extinct Ice Age steppe bison got it on with the aurochs, the ancient ancestor of cows, and created a rare hybrid mammal. Then ancient humans drew it. NPR reports research published Tuesday in Nature Communications solves a number of ancient mysteries in one go....

North America Only Has One Wolf Species Left
North America Only Has
One Wolf Species Left
NEW STUDY
Jul 28, 2016 7:41 AM CDT

North America Only Has One Wolf Species Left

It's the gray wolf; all others are hybrids: study

(Newser) - The US government recognizes three wolf species in North America: the red wolf, eastern wolf, and gray wolf. Two, it turns out, aren't true wolf at all. In a new genetic study , scientists at UCLA say the gray wolf is the last wolf species on the continent and all...

2 Ruinous Termite Species Have Mated in Florida

"They're two bad ones, too," says not-encouraging-sounding bug expert

(Newser) - Two particularly hungry, exotic termite species apparently have found love halfway around the world—and, as with so many other Florida hookups, the results are disturbing. Asian and Formosan subterranean termites are two of the most destructive termite species in the world, responsible for much of the estimated $40 billion...

Science Just Got Closer to Elephant-Mammoth Hybrid

But so far, it's just cells in a petri dish

(Newser) - For the first time since the woolly mammoth went extinct, its genes are working again, Popular Science reports. Sure, it's only in a lab; woolly mammoths haven't wandered the planet for about 4,000 years. But the effort at Harvard has brought the return of the animal a...

Scientists Find Dozens of New Hybrid Sharks

The animals are the first hybrid sharks in the world

(Newser) - Shark Week will have some new additions this year: Scientists found the first hybrid sharks in the world—57 of them—off the coast of Australia. The animals are a cross between the Australian blacktip shark and the common blacktip shark, and their existence may show that sharks are adapting...

Arctic Melting May Bring New Beast: Polar-Grizzly

Mama grizzly, papa polar means threatened baby

(Newser) - Melting arctic sea ice isn’t just threatening polar bears’ lives—it’s threatening their gene pool. The loss of ice means more contact between polar bears and genetically-similar grizzlies, which means cross-breeding, scientists say. Hunters have shot at least two polar-grizzly crosses since 2006, the Independent reports. Other species...

Half Zebra, Half Donkey, All Adorable

Baby 'zedonk' scores off the charts on the cute scale

(Newser) - Zebras and donkeys and zedonks, oh my! A wildlife reserve in Georgia is home to the United States' first known zedonk, the offspring of a female donkey and a male zebra. The preserve’s general manager said, “The animals have been running together for more than 40 years, but...

Human-Animal Embryos Created
 Human-Animal Embryos Created 
Apr 2, 2008 6:14 AM CDT

Human-Animal Embryos Created

Controversial cow-human creation lived for three days

(Newser) - In a brave new world breakthrough, British scientists for the first time have created animal-human hybrid embryos, the London Times reports. The nuclei of cow eggs were removed and replaced with ones from a human cell, creating "admixed" embryos—or "cybrids" whose genetic material is 99.9% human....

Hybrid Lizards Muscle Out Mom and Dad

Discovery of new salamanders’ ‘vigor’ is a scientific first

(Newser) - The offspring of California tiger salamanders and barred tiger salamanders are living proof that not all hybrids are mule-style genetic dead ends: They’re breeding their parents out of house and home. In a watershed instance of "hybrid vigor" among animals, Science reports, the progeny of two species for...

Brits Approve Experiments on Human-Animal Embryos

Hybrids to be created for stem cell research

(Newser) - Controversial experiments with embryos that are part human, part animal will be approved by a British commission tomorrow, the Guardian reports. Researchers hope to create the hybrid embryos to extract stem cells for use in potential treatments of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and possibly motor neuron problems and spinal cord...

Zebrula Kills at German Zoo
Zebrula Kills at German Zoo
Jul 5, 2007 2:36 PM CDT

Zebrula Kills at German Zoo

Offspring of horse and zebra is a crossover hit

(Newser) - Perplexed onlookers are flocking to a to a zoo in Germany to see a zebrula—the rare but not unprecedented offspring of a male zebra and a female horse, AFP reports. The animal, named Eclyse, has the head of a zebra, the body of a horse, and a coat split...

Britain OKs Human-Animal Hybrids for Research

(Newser) - The British government has reversed its stance on the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos and will propose allowing scientists to use them as sources of stem cells. Scientists developing treatments for incurable diseases would be allowed to grow the hybrid embryos for no longer than two weeks, and implanting them...

14 Stories