7 of the World's Most Dangerous Hybrid Animals |
Description: Hybrid animals that actually exist. These fascinating creatures are real & here we take a look at rare species bred by humans. Support our Patreon today: https://www.patreon.com/theywillkillyou Subscribe for new videos: http://goo.gl/SaufF4 Follow us on Instagram: @theywillkillyou Voiceover by Carl Mason: [email protected] 7 Hybrid Sharks The world’s first hybrid shark was discovered in 2012 in waters off Australia. It was a cross between the Australian blacktip shark and the common blacktip shark. The larger common blacktip shark usually prefers colder waters than its Australian counterpart. Researchers claimed that the interbreeding was a possible response to climate change or fishing patterns. 57 healthy hybrids were identified. If proven to be stronger than their parent species, researchers claimed that there’s a possibility that the hybrids could ultimately replace them. 6 American Pit Bull Terrier The Pit Bull Terrier was bred in the United Kingdom from early Terriers and Bulldogs. In the 1980s the breed began to attract the wrong type of attention. Nowadays breeding and owning pit bulls is heavily regulated in many countries around the world. 5 Coywolf Coywolf is the informal name used to describe a coyote and grey wolf hybrid. This type of hybridization regularly occurs in nature and is made easier by the fact that the two species diverged from a common ancestor relatively recently, approximately 6000 to 117,000 years ago. Coywolves are found throughout eastern North America. Unlike wolves but much like coyotes, coywolves can adapt and thrive in many habitats from grassy plains, woodlands and ravines to suburbs and cities. Unable to find their own species to mate with, the remaining wolves bred with coyotes thus giving birth to coywolves. Even though they share the coyote’s intelligence and adaptability, coywolves are larger. 4 Grolar Bear Grolar bears are hybrids of polar bears, the largest land carnivores on Earth, and grizzly bears. The hybrid has occurred both in the wild and in zoos. Initially, Martell, who’d been looking for polar bears with a guide and an official license, believed he got a normal polar bear. Officials decided to examine the creature after noticing that even though it had the thick, creamy white fur of a polar bear it also had a humped back, long claws, a shallow face and brown patches around its foot, back, eyes and nose characteristics which seemed to indicate a grizzly bear. DNA tests revealed the animal was in fact a hybrid with a grizzly father and a polar bear mother. The grizzly-polar bear is apparently a fertile hybrid as in 2010, the first recorded second generation grolar bear was in Canada. In the wild the two bear species tend to stay away from each other as grizzlies prefer forested areas and breed on land while polar bears prefer the ice. 3 Liger Ligers are a hybrid cross between a female tiger and a male lion. Even though they take their genes from the two biggest felines on Earth, ligers typically grow larger than both parent species. These huge animals are about the size of the prehistoric saber-toothed cat. Their physical characteristics are a blend of both parent species. They may have a faint tiger-like stripped pattern on their bodies which inherit the tawny color of the lion. A liger’s lion heritage may also include rosettes which can be black, sandy or dark brown in color. If a male liger has a mane, it’s usually smaller in size than that of lions. Just like tigers, these hybrid species enjoy swimming and similar to lions, they’re also very sociable. The current record for largest cat living on Earth is held by Hercules the liger. Named after the legendary Greek hero known for outstanding strength, Hercules muscular body weighs a staggering 922 pounds with a total length of around 11 feet. 2 Bees The Africanized honey bee is a hybrid originally produced by the cross-breeding of various European honey bees with the African honey bee. This bee was born in Brazil in the 1950s. Biologist Warwick E. Kerr operated several hives and planned on creating a new strain of bees by interbreeding Southern African bees with European bees. He hoped to create a bee strain that would produce more honey and at the same time be more adaptable to tropical conditions than European bees a replacement bee-keeper accidentally released 26 Tanzanian queen bees from quarantine into the other hives. The new species steadily spread throughout South America and reached North America in 1985. 1 Leopon The leopon is a hybrid resulting from the crossing of a lioness with a male leopard. Leopons are unlikely to occur in the wild and the only documented specimens have been bred in zoos. The appearance of these hybrids has been described as a combination of features from both lions and leopards. According to a 1912 description of a leopon from a zoo in Kolhapur, India, its body was spotted like a leopard’s while its head had many of the lion’s features. 
|
