Goat Sheep hybrid

[southerngurl]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/813466.stm

I ran across this when searching about something else. I didn't know that was possible.

[elgordo]

I've heard rumour of "geeps" but have never heard of one surviving, They didn't go into detail about its parentage in the article. (can't it be done again?).
I know my ram can't get my goat pregnant, and I know others who run goats and sheep together with no problems.
Very interesting.
You weren't thinking of trying for a new hybrid were you southerngurl? LOL

[mwhit]

Thanks for sharing that, it was interesting. THey are not closely related species and they have different chromosome numbers-- I'm fascinated. I'm off to look up goat sheep hybrids....

Michelle

[jen74145]

I remember reading about them some time ago; seems they usually aren't the hardiest creatures out there, and are sterile of course. Weird looking things...

[mwhit]

I've just read that the ram x doe breeding does produce pregnancies (about 70% fertilization rate), but they almost always die between 5 and 10 weeks of gestation. The buck x ewe breeding does not seem to ever (0% fertilization) end in a pregnancy.

Michelle


D A Kelk, C J Gartley, B C Buckrell, and W A KingThe interbreeding of sheep and goats.Can Vet J. 1997 April; 38(4): 235–237.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Guelph, Ontario.

[donsgal]

Originally Posted by southerngurl

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/813466.stm

I ran across this when searching about something else. I didn't know that was possible.

I checked snopes.com and there didn't seem to be anything there about it. But I tell you, I'm totally skeptical. These things always seem to happen third-world countries where claims are hard to substantiate and documentation is iffy.

It seems, that with all of the sheep and goats that have lived on this earth through the CENTURIES that a cross breed would have happened before now, if it were possible. In fact, there would be whole hybrid breeds out there like beefalos and mules, etc.

Naw, it's piffle.

donsgal

[DocM]

It looks suspiciously like a hair sheep. I have access to an academic genetics data base, and I couldn't find a substantiating article about it, from Botswana or elsewhere. I'm skeptical.

[Ed Norman]

Chimera?

[6e]

I hope that it's not true because we have a Leicester ram that thinks he's a goat and is always mounting our does.

[mwhit]

DocM- I think in very rare instances this does occur. There are several supposedly confirmed cases in the scientific literature. My thoughts on it: it is commonly accepted that the pairing does result in high fertilization rates. So... I assume that it is like many rare genetic occurences-- it's a fluke (error in cell division) that would normally result in fetal death, but in this case, because of the mismatched chromosome number, the abnormality gives the hybrid the chance to survive. Does that make sense?

6E,

The article I read (mentioned above) says that pregnancy does occur and it ends in miscarriage, which effects their breeding cycle.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pag...geindex=1#page

An update on sheep and goat linkage maps and other genomic resources.
Small Ruminant Research, Volume 70, Issue 1, Pages 4-20
J. Maddox, N. Cockett

Despite the lengthy divergence time between sheep and goat lineages, sheep and goats have generally been found in the same locations. There have been several
reports of natural matings between domestic Ovis aries rams and Capra hircus does, producing hybrid offspring (Letshwenyo and Kedikilwe, 2000; Nijman et al., 2002;
Stewart-Scott et al., 1990; Tucker et al., 1989). At least one such mating generated a female offspring that was fertile when mated to a domestic ram (Stewart-Scott et
al., 1990; Tucker et al., 1989). Hybrid offspring (2n = 59) have also been produced from matings between other pairs of Caprinae species, such as a Barbary (Ammotragus
lervia) ram (2n = 58) and a goat (2n = 60) (Moore et al., 1981). All Ovis species are able to interbreed (Franklin, 1997) and several, if not all, Capra species
are able to interbreed (Panel on Microlivestock, 1991; Pidancier et al., 2006).
The interbreeding among Caprinae suggests that, despite the lengthy species separation times and the differences in gross chromosomal morphology, the chromosomes of sheep and goats are sufficiently similar to enable synapsis during meiosis. Thus, genomics resources can be shared with success between the
species.

An update on sheep and goat linkage maps and other genomic resources.
Small Ruminant Research, Volume 70, Issue 1, Pages 4-20
J. Maddox, N. Cockett


Michelle

[HazyDay]

Originally Posted by mwhit

I've just read that the ram x doe breeding does produce pregnancies (about 70% fertilization rate), but they almost always die between 5 and 10 weeks of gestation. The buck x ewe breeding does not seem to ever (0% fertilization) end in a pregnancy.

Michelle


D A Kelk, C J Gartley, B C Buckrell, and W A KingThe interbreeding of sheep and goats.Can Vet J. 1997 April; 38(4): 235–237.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Guelph, Ontario.

I did a paper on hybrids last year. I looked into these and their was a bunch born on some islands to ewes. The mother was pure white and all the family was, they couldn't figure out where any color came from (I do believe that they were brown.) So they got vets in and it turned out they were geeps. After that they located a herd of wild goats!
I will dig for it tonight as I have all the links on it.

[Lizzieag]

I actually had a friend that had one, years ago. He always said that you can't (or shouldn't) keep a ram with does, but a buck with ewes was okay, because the buck will not impregnate the ewes. The geep was sterile, much like mules are sterile (the crossing of a donkey and horse) As I recall (might be wrong and am too lazy to look it up) Zebras don't mate well with either horses or donkeys. Many have tried as a striped horse would be highly desired, however offspring rarely occur, are sterile, and don't have the "hardiness" of either the zebra or horse. Typically the two animals will not mate unless there are no other "options"

[DixyDoodle]

I thought that was one un-pretty creature! My first thought was that it had a face like a cow. LOL

[Terry W]

Chimeras are possible, just not common. If anyone thinks that unequal chromosome numbers won't work-- look at mules (horses:64, donkeys:66, mules :65) there is also the horse-zebra crosses, regular horse x P horse( I cant spell it!!) which actually produce fertile offspring with the intermerdiate number of chromosome pairs!!!Then, we have certain wildfowl crosses that 'should not' be possible

When I got my BB's, the Amish asked how I got TWO goat-sheep crosses that looked so much alike!!!

[xoxoGOATSxoxo]

Huh. Weird. I never knew that could happen, if in fact it really did happen. I guess I believe it. I think I google for more of those. It's a weird looking animal, isnt it?

[SRobles]

Theres a little slaughter house about 20 miles from my place that raise sheep and goats and pigs and cattle and they have a pen of these goat sheep hybrids

[alidansma]

I have a friend with one of these last year - I remember he had a rough start - I wonder if he is still alive - I will ask my friend if her Glam is still around

[Hawkfamily]

I was quite interested in this topic about a year or so ago. We run our ram with our does and we found a small aborted fetus from one of the does once that could only have been from our ram. I took a doe to the vet in the spring convinced she was pregnant because she was completely bagged up (again, with access only to our ram). I had done the same internet research on the topic and believe that it is possible to crossbreed and result in a pregnancy, but very very unlikely to carry it beyond the first few weeks. My vet completely disagrees, scoffed at the whole idea and insists that it couldn't/wouldn't happen.
There's always exceptions to the rule, though, aren't there?