"hybridization" is not unfamiliar with people's lives. As early as 400~2500 years ago in in the Spring and Autumn Period , people had already used hybridization technology. At that time, people discovered that horses and donkeys could produce offspring, and called this new animal mule .
At first, Mule was regarded as precious animal for princes and nobles to enjoy . Later, people found that mule is bigger than donkeys, stronger than horses, has better endurance, and eats less , so people later began to breed this animal in large quantities. For a period of time, mules were one of the important transportation tools for people .
Since horses and donkeys can produce such a good chemical reaction, can horses and cows also hybridize? Just imagine, if an animal, has the physique of a cow and the flexibility of a horse, wouldn’t it be a brand new and excellent species? In India, there was a young man who did such an experiment. Did he succeed?
The weird experiment of Indian guy
There is such a young man in India. He has always been interested in "Can horses and cows cross?" , but due to the special status of cows in India (cows are nobler than people in India), the young man can only guess deep down and dare not do such experiments that insult the cows.
But human curiosity is extremely strong. Finally one day, this Indian guy couldn't stand the torture of inner curiosity. The so-called only criterion for laboratory testing truth , the Indian guy decided to personally verify the experimental results of cattle and horse hybridization.
First of all, this Indian guy brought a cow , which is quite beautiful and is in the estrus period of , and tied it to a tree. After a while, he brought another studded horse and spread the stallion. Next, it depends on what will happen in the future.
But time has passed, and lets the cows get in heat, and the stallion is not moved at all. , this kind of horse doesn't even look at the cows. The result is obvious that horses and cows will not mating naturally , and even if they are artificially interfered with, they will not have mating behavior, let alone produce offspring!
Why can’t horses and cows cross? Its essence is still a problem of reproductive isolation !
is destined to be unable to fall in love
In the biological world, scientists classify various organisms from large to small according to the seven levels of , phylum, class, order, family, genera, species, , and reproductive isolation appears at the level of "species", that is, animals of different "species" cannot mate under natural conditions, or they can mate and cannot produce offspring, and their offspring will lose their reproductive ability.
Because of reproductive isolation, it is impossible for different species to "Love ".
The first reason why horses and cows cannot cross are that neither side sees each other .
You should know whether it is a cow or a horse, the female party relies on urine to send signals to the male. Whether it is a stallion or a breeding cow, it will only mate with the female party when it smells the corresponding urine smell.
However, The urine of the mare and the cow are two independent passwords . Only male animals of the same species can decipher . Just like the experiment done by the Indian guy, the stallion will not react in any way to the cow's urine. Not only will it not respond, but the stallion may also have an offensive feeling because of the cow's urine.
This situation is very easy to understand. For example, the most beautiful goats in the world cannot attract humans (except for some Indians).
So, since horses and cows cannot mate in natural environments, then using biological means, directly extracts the semen of the stallion and the eggs of the cows and forcefully combines them. Can this create a brand new species of cattle and horse ? The answer is also no.
This is the second reason why horses and cattle cannot hybridize. has a large chromosome gap .
Although horses and donkeys do not belong to the same species, they also belong to """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Horses and donkeys are so much worse when they are in the same "genus" , let alone horses and cows are in different "family" , and the gap will only be even bigger! The chromosomes of scalpers 60 , and the buffaloes have 48 . Whether it is scalpers or buffaloes, they have too many differences with the chromosomes of horses, and their genes are different, so horses and cows cannot combine at all.
Not to mention that cows and horses cannot hybridize, even scalpers and buffalo and buffalo , which are both family , cannot produce offspring, so there is no need to consider what kind of monsters will horses and cows give birth to, because the two species of are not even as likely to give birth to monsters!
So whether different animals and plants can hybridize, it still depends on whether they belong to the same species. If is not the same species, one of the most likely is that it cannot produce offspring. Even if offspring is produced, physiological problems will occur.
For example, mules, although their performance is superior and their life span is increasing, their service life can reach 0-30 years , but all of this is exchanged for the physiological defect of inability to give birth to . Although it is a particularly good result for humans, whether it is a good thing for mules itself remains to be studied.
For example, lion and tiger beast , the offspring produced by tigers and lions is very large, but in addition to the problem of not being able to produce offspring alone, there are also various problems such as weak limbs , cannot control the growth of , etc. It can be said that lions, tigers and beasts live a very painful life.
Generally speaking, hybridization technology is widely used in plants. For example, the famous hybrid rice uses two genetically different rice varieties to combine new varieties with complementary advantages. The favorite orange is also the product of hybridization of oranges and grapefruits.
From this perspective, hybridization technology is more widely used in plants and is more beneficial.
Nature’s Rules
From the above, it can be seen that reproductive isolation is “Nature” set by “Rules” . It maximizes the stability of in the biological world . If there is no reproductive isolation, the world will definitely become chaotic. Just imagine that a dog can fly with wings, and a chicken’s head looks like a cat. Not to mention whether these species are excellent, just talking about this appearance can scare people half to death!
And from the perspective of the organism itself, although different species of animals can occasionally hybridize, the products produced by hybridization are mostly with physiological defects! Therefore, hybridization technology must be used with caution, especially among animals. It is even more cautious to prevent some tragic animals from causing artificial tragedy!
Reference materials:
Chen Jie; Luo Mi; Tao Min; Duan Wei ; Zhang Chun; Qin Qinbo; Xiao Jun; Liu Shaojun "Comparative Study on the Hybridization of Animals and Plants" CNKI 2016-10-20
Author: Invincible General Tie Proofreader: Chuanchuan
