A hybrid animal is the offspring produced when two animals of closely related – but different – species breed.
The young produced will usually not be fertile, and so hybrid species are not normally seen in the wild. In order for more of these hybrid animals to exist the original two species must be cross-bred again.
Take a look at these 5 real life incredible animal hybrids.
Ligers
Ligers are the cross of a male lion and a female tiger, and are the largest of all living cats and felines.
The massive size of a liger may be a result of imprinted genes which are not fully expressed in their parents, but are left unchecked when the two different species mate.
Various other big cat hybrids have been created too, including leopons (a leopard and a lion mix), jaguleps (a jaguar and leopard mix), and even lijaguleps (a lion and jagulep mix).
Zebroids
A zebroid is the offspring of a cross between a zebra and any other equine, usually a horse or a donkey.
There are zorses, zonkeys, zonies and a host of other combinations.
Zebroids are an interesting example of hybrids bred knowing that horses have 64 chromosomes and zebras have between 32 and 44 (depending on species).
Grolar bears
A grolar bear is the offspring of a grizzly bear and a polar bear.
Unlike many hybrid animals, grolar bears are known to occur naturally in the wild.
Wholphins
A cross between a false killer whale and an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, wholphins are hybrids that have been reported to exist in the wild.
There are currently two in captivity, both at Sea Life Park in Hawaii.
The wholphin's size, color and shape are intermediate between the parent species. Even their number of teeth is mixed; a bottlenose has 88 teeth, a false killer whale has 44 teeth, and a wholphin has 66.
Beefalo
A beefalo is the fertile offspring of domestic cattle and American bison. Crosses also exist between domestic cattle and European bison (zubrons), and yaks (yakows).
The name given to beefalo might be the most suggestive, since the breed was purposely created to combine the best characteristics of both animals with an eye towards beef production.
A study showed beefalo meat, like bison meat, tended to be lower in fat and cholesterol.