Remember those ancient riddles? They went something like,

“What would you get if you crossed a chicken and a centipede?”

Drumsticks for everyone!

Ah yes, the wondrous human intellect. What’s ever more wondrous, is the biological equivalents of those riddles…

What would you get if you crossed a horse and a donkey?!

A Hinny

Hinny – Horse(M) + Donkey(F)

Hinnies are the offspring of a male horse (stallion) and a female donkey (jenny). The hinny is sterile. Hinnies are similar to mules in that they are generally more intelligent than horses, and more cooperative than donkeys. Both are also healthier and less expensive to feed and maintain than horses. This is a trait these hybrids get from their donkey heritage. The donkey is a notoriously hardy creature that, in the wild, survives on a harsh diet in a desert environment.

The male hinny can and will mate, but the emission is not fertile. Male hinnies are usually castrated to help control their behavior by eliminating their interest in females.

What would you get if you crossed a camel and a llama?!

A Cama!

Cama – Camel(M) + Llama(F)

A cama is a hybrid between a camel and a llama, produced via artificial insemination by a breeder in Dubai attempting to create a animal with the size and strength of the camel, but the more cooperative nature of the llama. The Dromedary camel is six times the weight of a Llama, hence artificial insemination was required to impregnate the Llama female (matings of llama male to Dromedary female have proven unsuccessful).

Though born even smaller than a Llama calf, the cama had the short ears and long tail of a camel, no hump and llama-like cloven hooves rather than the dromedary-like pads. At four years old, the cama become sexually mature and interested in llama and guanaco females. This first cama has been a disappointment behaviorally, displaying an extremely poor temperament.

What would you get if you crossed a grizzly and a polar?!

A Grolar!

Grolar – Grizzly Bear(M) + Polar Bear(F)

A Grizzly–polar bear hybrid is a rare ursid hybrid that has occurs both in captivity and in the wild. On 16 April 2006, a hybrid bear was shot dead by Jim Martell, a hunter from the United States, in Canada, the occurrence of this hybrid in nature was confirmed by testing the DNA of the strange-looking bear.

A number of polar bear hybrids are described as Ursid hybrids, a term that designates any hybrid of two species within the Ursidae family. Although the two bears are genetically similar, they tend to avoid each other in the wild.

What would you get if you crossed a zebra with a horse/ass/mule/pony?!

A Zebroid!

Zebra (M) + Horse (F) – zorse, zebra mule, zebrule or golden zebra

Zebra (M) + Pony (F) – zony

Zebra (M) + Shetland pony (F) – zetland

Zebra (M) + Any ass species (F) – zebrass

Zebra (M) + Donkey (F) – zedonk, zeedonk, zonkey, zebronkey, zebadonk

Zebra (F) + Donkey (M) – zebret, zebrinny

Zebra (F) + Horse (M) – hebra

A Zonky

A zebroid is a cross between a zebra and any other equid: essentially, a zebra hybrid. They are also known as zebra mules and zebrules.They are rare, but have been bred since the 19th Century. Charles Darwin noted several zebra hybrids in his works.

Zebroids physically resemble their non-zebra parent, but are striped like a zebra. The stripes generally do not cover the whole body, and might be confined to the legs or spread onto parts of the body or neck. In zebra-ass hybrids, there is usually a dorsal (back) stripe and a ventral (belly) stripe.

Zebroids are preferred over zebra for practical uses, such as for riding, because the zebra has a different body shape from a horse or donkey, and consequently it is difficult to find tack to fit a zebra. However, a zebroid is usually more inclined to be temperamental than a purebred horse and can be difficult to handle.

A Zony

A Zorse

What do you get if you cross a lion and a lepord?!

A Leopon!

Leopon – Lepord(M) + Lion(F)

A leopon is the result of breeding a male leopard with a female lion. The head of the animal is similar to that of a lion while the rest of the body carries similarities to leopards. The first documented leopon was bred at Kolhapur, India in 1910. It was a cross between a large leopard and a lioness.

Based on the data from the Japanese cats, leopons are larger than leopards and combine features from the leopard and lion. They have brown, rather than black, spots and tufted tails. They will climb like leopards and seem to enjoy water, also like the leopard (oddly enough, the Japanese leopons were born of a water-loving lioness and a male leopard that did not seem to like water). Male leopons may have sparse manes about 20cm long.

According to American Monsters, the leopon has the size and strength of a lion. But, unlike the lion, they have extraordinary climbing abilities like the leopard. The female leopons may be torn between the solitary nature of the leopard and the social nature of a lioness.

What do you get if you cross a dolphin and a whale?!

A Wolphin!

Wolphin – Killer Whale(M) + Dolphin(F)

A wholphin or wolphin is a rare hybrid, born from a mating of bottlenose dolphin(F), and a false killer whale(M). Although they have been reported to exist in the wild, there are currently only two in captivity, both at Sea Life Park in Hawaii. The first captive wholphin was born on May 15, 1985 where a female bottlenose dolphin named Punahele and a male false killer whale named Tanui Hahai shared a pool.

The wholphin’s size, color and shape are intermediate between the parent species. Wholphins, though not often sighted by fisherman, are known in popular seafaring lore as “the great grey beast.”

What do you get when you cross a tiger and a lion?!

A Tigon!

Tigon – Tiger(M) + Lion(F)

A tigon or tigron is a hybrid cross between a male tiger and a female lion. Tigons can exhibit characteristics of both parents: they can have both spots from the mother (lions carry genes for spots — lion cubs are spotted) and stripes from the father. Any mane that a male tigon may have will appear shorter and less noticeable than a lion’s mane and is closer in type to the ruff of a male tiger.

They do not exceed the size of their parent species because they inherit growth-inhibitory genes from the lioness mother, but they do not exhibit any kind of dwarfism or miniaturisation; they often weigh around 180 kilograms (400 lb). The comparative rarity of tigons is attributed to male tigers’ finding the courtship behaviour of a lioness too subtle and thus may miss behavioural cues that signal her willingness to mate.

Male tigons are sterile while the females are generally fertile. Because only female ligers and tigons are fertile, ligers and tigons cannot reproduce with each other.

And finally, what do you get when you cross a lion and a tiger?!

A Liger!

Liger – Lion(M) + Tiger(F)

The liger, is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger. It resembles a tiger with diffused stripes, and they are the largest cats in the world! Ligers and tigers enjoy swimming, whereas lions do not. Rare reports have been made of tigresses mating with lions in the wild. They attain great size, weighing approximately 320 kilograms (700 lb) and reaching 10 feet (3.05 m) long on an average, imprinted genes may be a factor contributing to liger size.

Ligers have a tiger-like striping pattern on a lion-like tawny background. In addition they may inherit rosettes from the lion parent (lion cubs are rosetted and some adults retain faint markings). These markings may be black, dark brown or sandy. The background color may be correspondingly tawny, sandy or golden. In common with tigers, their underparts are pale. The actual pattern and color depends on which subspecies the parents were and on the way in which the genes interact in the offspring.

The tiger produces a hormone that sets the fetal liger on a pattern of growth that does not end throughout its life. While male ligers are sterile, female ligers can usually reproduce. Because only female ligers and tigons are fertile, a liger cannot reproduce with another liger or with a tigon.

These are just some of the few exotic hybrids that exist on earth, although they’ve existed forever, surprisingly very few people know about them!

Some hybrids ‘d like too see..

Behold! The wonders of nature!

How about a cheetah and a kangaroo? – A Cheegaroo?
Or maybe a rat and a mouse? – A Rouse?
Or a falcon and a duck? – A F..uh..’m gonna skip this one.

Image Sources: Hinny, Cama, Grolar, Grolar, Zonky, Zorse, Zony, Leopon, Leopon, Wolphin, Tigon, Liger