5 animal hybrids that sound fake but actually exist
Over the years, the animal kingdom has given us some truly surprising hybrids, which include creatures born when two different species mate and produce offspring that share traits from both parents.
These hybrid animals aren't science fiction; they're real, living beings.
Some occur naturally in the wild, while others are produced through formulation in the lab, and also while in captivity. While most hybrids are sterile, meaning they can't reproduce, they can still live long and healthy lives.
Whether it's a massive cat that's part lion, part tiger, or a dolphin-whale hybrid that swims in Hawaii's waters, these animals challenge what we think we know about biology.
Many of them even retain the personalities or behavioral quirks of both parent species, making them even more unique.
Here are some of the most bizarre
animal hybrids
that seem to be from a fantasy world.
Hinny and mules
Mules or hinnies are classic hybrids, created by crossing a horse and a donkey. A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare), while a hinny comes from a male horse (stallion) and a female donkey (jenny). Mules are more common and used for domestic purposes for their strength, endurance, and intelligence.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
17 Cars That Practically Have No Use Today, Ranked In Order
Daily Sport X
Undo
Both hybrids are generally sterile due to mismatched chromosomes, but can live long, healthy lives and are widely used as working animals worldwide.
Geep
A geep is the result of a goat and a sheep mating. The two animals that are similar in size, belong to different genera. Geep births are extremely rare and often spontaneous. Most geep embryos don't survive, but a few confirmed cases have lived into adulthood, with fuzzy bodies and goat-like faces.
Because of their genetic differences, geeps are usually sterile. They're often born accidentally when goats and sheep graze together and aren't prevented from mating.
Liger
The liger is one of the most famous animal hybrids. It's the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger. Ligers are massive, often growing larger than both parent species, and are only found in captivity, since lions and tigers don't share habitats in the wild.
They tend to have a mix of both lion and tiger traits: faint stripes, a partial mane, and a powerful build. While generally sterile, some female ligers have reproduced.
Jaglion
A jaglion is the rare hybrid of a male jaguar and a female lion. Unlike ligers, jaglions are almost unheard of and have only been seen in captivity. One famous pair was born in a Canadian sanctuary to a jaguar and lion that had bonded while growing up together.
Jaglions have an attractive appearance with tan fur and faded jaguar-like rosettes. They also carry the bold, solitary temperament of the jaguar, are sterile, and have not been bred beyond a few individuals.
Wholphin
The wholphin is a rare marine hybrid between a female bottlenose dolphin and a male false killer whale. These two species are technically part of the dolphin family but are quite different in size and behavior. Wholphins have been spotted in the wild but are most famously represented by Kekaimalu, a wholphin born at Sea Life Park in Hawaii. She surprised scientists by not only surviving but also reproducing, making her one of the few fertile hybrids ever recorded.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
39 minutes ago
- Time of India
What if doctors could practise your surgery on a virtual YOU first? Welcome to the future of Indian healthcare
Imagine practising a surgery on a virtual version of your body before doctors operate on the real you. That's not science fiction anymore; it's happening in India. As quoted by TOI, senior heart transplant surgeon Dr K R Balakrishnan now makes a stop at IIT Madras before performing surgeries on complicated heart patients. At the biomedical engineering lab, he works on 3D virtual versions of his patients, also called digital twins. These twins help the doctor and his team analyse blood vessels, muscles and more before deciding the best course of treatment. What Exactly Is a Digital Twin? A digital twin is a computer-based copy of a real-world object or human. It receives real-time data from its original source, helping doctors make accurate medical decisions. The concept first appeared in aerospace engineering, but now it's being used in hospitals too. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Top 5 Dividend Stocks for May 2025 Seeking Alpha Read Now Using sensors and medical test results, doctors can create a virtual model of a patient and try out different surgeries or treatments before doing anything to the actual patient. Digital Twins at IIT Madras Professor R Krishnakumar, who used to design digital twins for tyre companies, now heads the biomedical engineering lab at IIT-M. Quoted by TOI, he said, 'Give us the medical records of a patient, and his digital twin will be ready in 45 minutes. An hour later, doctors can test treatment options on this synthetic patient.' Live Events Sometimes, doctors don't need a full 3D model, a simple graph can help them decide if the patient needs a life-saving device like an intra-aortic balloon pump. According to Krishnakumar, 'Nine times out of ten, the system's decision has been right.' How Surgeons Use Digital Twins Surgeons at JIPMER (Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research) in Puducherry are also working with digital twins. They've created 3D models of the brain to plan surgeries for deep-seated tumours. Neurosurgeon Dr M S Gopalakrishnan, quoted by TOI, said, 'We rehearse surgeries virtually and choose the safest and most effective method before operating.' These rehearsals are done using virtual reality (VR), which helps doctors practise every move and avoid risky areas. Once the plan is ready, it's loaded into a computer-guided system that helps during the real surgery by overlaying the virtual route onto the real-time view of the brain using augmented reality (AR). What's Next in Digital Twin Tech? According to Dr Gopalakrishnan, the next step is for digital twins to give feedback during live surgery. 'If I move a patient's brain lobe in the operating room, the virtual twin should tell me what could happen next,' he said. This level of smart interaction may soon be possible using Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINN). These allow the twins to be smarter and more accurate, even when data is limited or biological processes are complex. Beyond Surgery: Managing Chronic Illnesses Digital twins aren't just for surgery. In cancer care, doctors use them to test treatments and reduce side effects. In diabetes, they help track sugar levels and suggest lifestyle changes that can even reverse the disease. Dr Arjun Suresh, a general medicine expert, quoted by TOI, said, 'Right now, we treat sugar levels reactively. With digital twins and real-time data from glucose monitors, we can be proactive.' A team led by Dr Rajan Ravichandran is also working on using digital twins to predict kidney problems in diabetic patients. A New Era of Drug Discovery Digital twins are also helping in drug development. They make it possible to run virtual clinical trials and test drug reactions without using real humans. This saves time and money. Some Challenges Still Remain Though the technology is promising, doctors admit it's not perfect. Dr Balakrishnan said, 'There are still issues with data quality, how we use the models, and training people to use them well. Plus, there are ethical concerns about how much influence these tools should have on treatment decisions.' Still, as digital twins grow smarter and more accessible, they may become a routine part of treatment, guiding doctors, saving lives, and making medicine more precise than ever before. Inputs from TOI
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Parkinson's disease: NOT your brain; study reveals your ears might hold clues to early signs of the disease
Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that primarily affects movement. It is characterized by the degeneration of nerve cells in the brain, specifically those producing dopamine, a neurotransmitter crucial for coordinating movement. This leads to a range of symptoms, including tremors, stiffness, and slowness of movement. While there is no cure, treatments and therapies can help manage symptoms and improve quality of life. Globally, Parkinson's disease (PD) affects millions. A study published in The BMJ in March 2025 projects that 25.2 million people will be living with Parkinson's by 2050. But what if we can detect Parkinson's disease with an easy hack? No scans, no invasive tests – imagine being able to early diagnose Parkinson's with a gentle swab of your ear. Recent research reveals that earwax – or cerumen – may carry subtle chemical signals pointing to Parkinson's disease (PD) long before traditional symptoms appear. By analyzing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in earwax and feeding that data into artificial‑intelligence systems, scientists have achieved detection accuracy as high as 94%. This promising approach could offer an easy, non‑invasive, and cost‑effective screening method. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo Read on to know more. What does the study say? The new research, published in Analytical Chemistry , has found that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in earwax could carry chemical signals of the neurological disease. The work builds on earlier findings suggesting that Parkinson's subtly alters body odor, through changes in sebum, the oily substance that naturally moisturizes our hair and skin. The problem with trying to analyze sebum on the skin is that its exposure to air and the external environment makes it less reliable for clinical testing. Scientists led by a team from Zhejiang University wanted to take a look at earwax, which is better protected. The researchers took ear canal swabs from 209 study participants, 108 of whom had been given a Parkinson's disease diagnosis. By charting differences in earwax composition between people with and without Parkinson's, four VOCs stood out: ethylbenzene, 4-ethyltoluene, pentanal, and 2-pentadecyl-1,3-dioxolane. As the researchers mentioned in their published paper, "Early diagnosis and intervention are crucial for Parkinson's disease treatment," adding, "This study proposes a diagnostic model… that analyzes VOCs from ear canal secretions." According to the scientists, those VOCs can be altered by inflammation, cell stress, and neurodegeneration in the brain. With the right tests, the team hypothesized that subtle signals for Parkinson's could show up in the ears. These could potentially be used to identify Parkinson's in the future, acting as a foundation around which tests can be developed. First, though, this same analysis needs to be run on larger groups of people over longer periods of time. Earwax: An unexpected diagnostic window Earwax, medically known as cerumen, is more than just debris – it contains sebum, an oily secretion from skin glands, along with waxy fatty acids and dead skin cells. Sebum's chemical composition reflects our skin's metabolic activity. Earlier studies found that people with Parkinson's often emit a distinctive musky odor, traced back to sebum on their skin, caused by inflammation, oxidative stress, and neurodegeneration. Yet, skin-mounted sebum exposed to pollution and humidity can muddy chemical signals. Enter the ear canal – a more protected environment. Wax from the ear canal remains sheltered, making it a more stable source for detecting sebum-based chemical markers. The findings: Four key VOCs The team, led by Hao Dong and Danhua Zhu at Zhejiang University, collected earwax samples from 209 participants –108 diagnosed with Parkinson's and 101 healthy controls. Using advanced separation techniques (gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and GC with surface acoustic wave sensors), they analyzed the chemical makeup of the samples. Out of hundreds of detected VOCs, four stood out – chemicals whose levels consistently differed in Parkinson's patients: Ethylbenzene 4‑Ethyltoluene Pentanal 2‑Pentadecyl‑1,3‑dioxolane Statistical analysis showed these chemicals were significantly altered in Parkinson's patients. These differences likely stem from underlying processes in Parkinson's: neurodegeneration, systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, and changes in fat metabolism. Enter AI – with 94% accuracy Detecting these VOCs is only one part of the equation – interpreting them demands precision. The researchers built an Artificial Intelligence Olfactory (AIO) system using two methods: A support‑vector machine trained on GC‑MS data. A convolutional neural network (CNN) trained on GC‑SAW sensor data. The CNN-AIO achieved 94–94.4% accuracy in differentiating Parkinson's from non-Parkinson's samples, with an impressive receiver‑operating‑characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) of ~0.98. This highlights the system's potential as a reliable early-screening tool – fast, inexpensive, non‑invasive, and amenable to low-resource medical settings. As per the researchers, "The AIO-based analytical system underscores its potential for use in bedside medical diagnostic devices, aiding in earlier and more effective treatment for Parkinson's disease patients." The findings could also help the ongoing study to understand how Parkinson's gets started and how it might be stopped. Identified VOC changes could possibly be used as a chemical fingerprint, identifying other changes happening because of – or perhaps leading to – the disease. Why early detection matters: Currently, Parkinson's is diagnosed based on motor symptoms – tremors, muscle rigidity, slowed movement – when significant neurological damage has already occurred. Conventional diagnostic methods, like brain imaging or dopamine transporter scans, are expensive, time-consuming, and not always precise Earlier detection through earwax offers three big benefits: Preventive timing: Intervene sooner to potentially slow disease progression and preserve quality of life. Accessibility: Ear swabs require minimal training and equipment, less costly than imaging. Consistency: Earwax sebum isn't easily contaminated, unlike skin sebum. An affordable, objective test could change the landscape for millions of people worldwide. What's ahead: The next steps? Wider trials across multiple centers and demographics to confirm whether this test is robust in varied populations and stages of Parkinson's, develop bedside protocols using rapid GC-SAW sensors and AI for real-time screening, and explore biological pathways linking VOC changes to cellular processes, which could illuminate PD's origins and potential therapeutic targets. Researchers Dr. Hao Dong and colleagues emphasize the need for multi-center trials, involving diverse ethnicities and disease stages, before real-world use. As per Dr. Dong, from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, "The next step is to conduct further research at different stages of the disease, in multiple research centers and among multiple ethnic groups, in order to determine whether this method has greater practical application value. " Speech may be clue to early mental decline
Time of India
13 hours ago
- Time of India
‘Secondary pollutants a serious health risk'
Kolkata: A new study by Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) revealed that nearly one-third of Kolkata's PM2.5 pollution is caused by secondary pollutants — invisible particles formed through chemical reactions between gases like sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and ammonia (NH₃). Yet, these critical contributors remain largely overlooked by India's National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which continues to focus on direct particulate emissions. Secondary pollutants pose serious health risks, penetrating deep into lungs and entering the bloodstream. Prolonged exposure to PM2.5 is linked to heart disease, respiratory illnesses, and premature death. The CREA analysis shows that ammonium sulfate, a secondary pollutant formed in the atmosphere from SO₂ and NH₃, makes up 34% of the PM2.5 mass on an average across Indian cities. In Kolkata, ammonium sulfate concentrations reach 21.7 µg/m³, placing it among the top five NCAP cities most affected by this pollutant, alongside Patna, Muzaffarpur, Howrah, and Varanasi. "We are ignoring one-third of the problem. Unless we address the gases forming PM2.5, real air quality improvement will remain out of reach," said Manoj Kumar, analyst at CREA. Secondary pollutants differ from primary pollutants in that they form in the atmosphere through chemical reactions, making them harder to trace and regulate. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Reimagining Modern Workspaces Starts With Smarter Monitors CRN UK Learn More Undo Because they are transboundary in nature, their impact is felt far beyond state and city borders. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata CREA's study finds that 114 out of 130 NCAP cities had ammonium sulfate contributing more than 30% to PM2.5 levels. Cities like Jodhpur, Rajkot, and Srinagar were among the few where the contribution was below 25%. The nationwide average ammonium sulfate concentration is 11.9 µg/m³ and the maximum recorded is 22.5 µg/m³ in Patna. In areas near coal-fired thermal power plants, concentrations of ammonium sulfate are 2.5 times higher than in distant regions. CREA found that SO₂ emissions from these plants are the single largest driver, accounting for over 60% of India's SO₂ output. Despite the overwhelming evidence, the study finds, NCAP continues to focus largely on PM10, while PM2.5 — finer, more toxic, and deadlier — gets inadequate attention. Secondary particles like ammonium nitrate also add significantly to the burden, with secondary pollutants forming up to 50% of PM2.5 mass in some areas. CREA recommends NCAP and city-level clean air plans expand focus to PM2.5 and its precursor gases, mandate flue gas desulfurisation in thermal power plants to cut SO₂, regulate ammonia sources, and ensure compliance with emission standards. "Without this, tackling secondary PM2.5 will stay a challenge," Kumar said.
