Can You Spot the Real Animal Hybrid? - Issue 14: Mutation
▻http://nautil.us/issue/14/mutation/can-you-spot-the-real-animal-hybrid
Typhon, the deadliest monster in Greek mythology, had a human upper torso, viper coils for a lower torso, and many dragon heads where a single human head should have been. In his first battle with Zeus, ruler of the Greek pantheon of the gods, he won (though he would eventually end up defeated and trapped under a mountain). This hybrid beast was one of many among ancient myths, most of which we understand today to be impossible. A mammal, for example, cannot produce an offspring with a bird. Even if “equipment” issues were sorted out, their chromosomes are incompatible. If an egg could be fertilized at all, it would not divide properly. But modern practices of keeping dissimilar species in captivity next to each other have produced a variety of honest-to-goodness, real-life hybrids. (...)