• Question: can cross species genetics happen in real life

    Asked by joshuabellotryan to Claire, Renata, Suzanne on 28 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by anon-38114.
    • Photo: Suzanne Harvey

      Suzanne Harvey answered on 28 Jun 2013:

      Yes, but it’s very rare! Ligers are a cross between lions and tigers, and a few exist in the world, but this could never happen in the wild because they’re from different continents. They can breed though, there is now one liger liger in the world!

    • Photo: Renata Medeiros

      Renata Medeiros answered on 28 Jun 2013:

      There are also examples of cross-breeding (known as ‘hybridisation’) happening in the wild. For example, around Cardiff the introduced Canada geese sometimes breed with the local Greylag geese. The offspring look very strange -exactly halfway in appearance between the 2 parents!

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