I'm a big fan of the BBC teatime quiz show Pointless, not least because it is co-hosted by a Fulham fan Richard Osman. Recently they had a fine round in which contestants had to identify what two animals had combined to produce hybird offspring based on the name of that offspring. Frankly I had no idea there were so many animal hybrids in existence. Seems rude not to do a top five then.
1. Liger - Possibly the most obvious hybrid but for good reason. A Liger is a cross between a male lion and a tigress and, despite any reservations over why they may be bred, looks absolutely fabulous. The largest feline in existence, a male Liger has the shaggy mane of a Lion with the body stripes of a Tiger. You can surely not get a better big cat than that!
2. Zedonk - The offspring of a Zebra and a Donkey which, like the Liger, produces what appears to be a Donkey with funky stripes. Clearly I'm a fan of stripes on animals.
3. Grolar Bear - The result of a Polar Bear and a Grizzly Bear getting jiggy with it. They're very rare and usually come from captive animals but there have been reports of wild Grolars being identified in the Canadian Arctic.
4. Beefalo - Not, as may first appear, the offsping of a Bee and a Buffalo (Hat-tip to Mr Osman) but slightly less excitingly the fertile hybrid of domestic cattle and American bison. Actually it's a bit dull but I couldn't resist the Bee joke.
5. Killer Bee - The explanation straight out of Wikipedia is as follows;
"Africanized honey bees, known colloquially as "killer bees," are hybrid varieties of the Western honey bee species, produced originally by cross-breeding the African honey bee with various European honey bees. The hybrid bees are far more aggressive than any of the various European subspecies. Small swarms of Africanized bees are capable of taking over European honey bee hives by invading the hive and establishing their own queen after killing the European queen."
Yeah, whatever - KILLER BEES!!!!!!!
.
1. Liger - Possibly the most obvious hybrid but for good reason. A Liger is a cross between a male lion and a tigress and, despite any reservations over why they may be bred, looks absolutely fabulous. The largest feline in existence, a male Liger has the shaggy mane of a Lion with the body stripes of a Tiger. You can surely not get a better big cat than that!
2. Zedonk - The offspring of a Zebra and a Donkey which, like the Liger, produces what appears to be a Donkey with funky stripes. Clearly I'm a fan of stripes on animals.
3. Grolar Bear - The result of a Polar Bear and a Grizzly Bear getting jiggy with it. They're very rare and usually come from captive animals but there have been reports of wild Grolars being identified in the Canadian Arctic.
4. Beefalo - Not, as may first appear, the offsping of a Bee and a Buffalo (Hat-tip to Mr Osman) but slightly less excitingly the fertile hybrid of domestic cattle and American bison. Actually it's a bit dull but I couldn't resist the Bee joke.
5. Killer Bee - The explanation straight out of Wikipedia is as follows;
"Africanized honey bees, known colloquially as "killer bees," are hybrid varieties of the Western honey bee species, produced originally by cross-breeding the African honey bee with various European honey bees. The hybrid bees are far more aggressive than any of the various European subspecies. Small swarms of Africanized bees are capable of taking over European honey bee hives by invading the hive and establishing their own queen after killing the European queen."
Yeah, whatever - KILLER BEES!!!!!!!
.
4 comments:
That Liger is probably the best thing I've ever seen. Ever.
Fab post!
Napoleon Dynamite draws an amazing Liger, you should see that
that liger is fake it is fotoshoped. the real ligers don't look like that
I did wonder if that pic was too good to be true. They're still amazing animals though. Cheers for letting me know.
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