A Distinction with a Difference
My lab recently got a sample of a mystery animal from another campus lab. Well, not completely mysterious. The sample was from the baby of a donkey. But they weren't sure if it was a hinny or another donkey. Hinnys are hybrid animals produced by breeding a female horse and a male donkey. Mules are the opposite of hinnys, their mothers are donkeys. Like many other hybrids, mules and hinnys are typically sterile because they have an odd number of chromosomes (see chart). Hinnys and donkeys can usually be distinguished by appearance but if the animal is too young they can be distinguished by counting their chromosomes. Donkeys have 62 chromosomes and hinnys (and mules) have 63.
Zedonkey
The liger is probably the most famous hybrid animal. But it also has an lesser known "opposite" called the tigon. People went crazy with zebras as well creating zorses, zonies, zetlands, zebrasses and zedonkys.
I don't know what this one is called though.
Mom | Dad | Offspring | # of chromosomes | Sterile? |
Female Horse (Mare) | Male Donkey (Jack) | Mule | 63 | yes |
Female Donkey (Jenny) | Male Horse (Stallion) | Hinny | 63 | yes |
Female Horse (Mare) | Male Horse (Stallion) | Horse | 64 | no |
Female Donkey (Jenny) | Male Donkey (Jack) | Donkey | 62 | no |
Female Mule (Molly) | Male Horse (Stallion) | ? | ? | ? |
Female Hinny | Male Donkey (Jack) | ? | ? |
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