SELECTIVE BREEDING & HYBRIDIZATION, INC is pleased to
introduce you to our newest item, the GEEP!
The Geep is made by combining the sheep with a goat:
I am a sheep, a domesticated
farm animal found all over the
world. I provide people with
wool and skin for making
clothes and blankets. My milk
and meat provide food for
people. I need improvement
because my milk is high in
lactose, so not many people can
drink it.
I am a goat, a domesticated
farm animal found all over
the world. I provide milk
for drink or making cheese,
meat for eating.. I need
improving because my hair
and skin are not often used
in making clothes.
MEET THE GEEP!
THE NEW HYBRID OF A GOAT + SHEEP = GEEP. THE GEEP WAS
CREATED IN A LABORATORY IN AUSTRALIA IN 1978 BY FUSING
SHEEP AND GOAT EMBRYOS TOGETHER. I CAN LIVE IN ANY
ENVIRONMENT THAT SHEEP AND GOATS CAN LIVE IN. I HAVE
THE SOFT WOOLY COAT OF A SHEEP WHICH CAN BE USED FOR
CLOTHING AND WOOL, I CAN ALSO MAKE MILK THAT IS LOW
IN LACTOSE AND GREAT FOR CHEESES, AND I ALSO PRODUCE
A MEAT THAT CAN BE ENJOYED BY FAMILIES.
On
sale!
Only
$199.99
!
Get ‘em
while
they last!
*****Hybrid Sales Campaign*****
Hybrid Reading Questions
Welcome aboard Hybrid Sales! We’re glad you’ve joined our SELECTIVE BREEDING
team! As a new employee of SELECTIVE BREEDING & HYBRIDIZATION, Inc.,
your first task is to create an Ad Campaign for our new line of “hybridized” organisms.
Each hybrid organism is SELECTIVELY BRED from two organisms that are similar, each
with unique and useful traits. You have been provided with the name of your hybrid
organism and it’s your job to do the research needed to tell our customers about the original
parent organisms and why this hybrid was created.
Your sales pitch must advertise this hybrid organism so that we can attract customers to buy
it. Your ad must be 1 page, 1 poster, or 1 or more ppt slides and must include:
Questions about Parent Organisms:
1.
What are the parent organisms?
2.
Where are they found?
3.
How does each organism help mankind?
4.
Why do the parents need improvements (i.e. why should we breed it with a
different parent to make this hybrid?)
Use the class copy of the “Hybrid Organism Reading” sheet to answer
the following questions
1. What is a wholfin? What is unique about its teeth?
2. What other hybrid was recently found in Canada?
3. What percentage of animal and plant species create hybrids in
nature?
4. Hybrids are sometimes infertile. What does this mean?
Questions about Hybrid Organism:
1. What is the hybrid organism?
2. Where is the hybrid found/where does it live?
3. When was this hybrid introduced/discovered?
4. What special traits does this hybrid have?
5. How does this new hybrid benefit or help mankind?.
5. Why are most hybrid animals considered “evolutionary dead ends”?
Advertisement Requirements:
1. Include a picture of both parents
2. Include a picture of the new hybrid organism
3. Must BE in the format of an advertisement.
4. Picture must be colorful and advertisement must be neat
7. Because hybrids create new gene combinations, scientists think it’s
possible that some gene combinations can allow hybrids to do
what?
6. Besides infertility, what other problems do hybrids face?
You will be graded on the following criteria (Total 100 PROJECT points):
Criteria
Description of
each parent
organism
(out of 40
points)
Benefit of
breeding
0
No
description
5
Description
answers few
questions about
organisms
10
Description
answers some
questions about
organisms
15
Description
answers most
questions about
organisms
20
Description
answer all
questions about
organisms
No benefits
mentioned
Benefit has
little support
Benefits are
somewhat
supported
Picture of each
organism
No picture
Advertisement
format, neatness
and color
No format,
not neat, no
color
Picture shows
little
understanding
of crossing
organisms
Few elements
addressed
Picture shows
some
understanding
of crossing
organisms
Some elements
addressed
Benefits are
well stated and
show good
support
Picture shows
good
understanding
of crossing
organisms
Most elements
addressed
Benefits are
well-stated and
show great
support
Picture clearly
shows
understanding
of crossing
organisms
All elements
addressed
8. What are the three hybrid sunflower species able to do that the
parents can’t do?
9. What are the limitations of the hybrid sunflowers?
10. Why does the Lonicera fly prefer honesuckle as its host plant?
Hybrid Organisms Reading
In 1985, trainers at Hawaii Sea Life Park were stunned when a 400- pound
gray female bottlenose dolphin gave birth to a dark-skinned calf that partly
The parent species thrive on moist soils, but the hybrids live in more
extreme habitats. The sand sunflower likes living in sand dunes and the puzzle
sunflower in salty marshes.
resembled the 2,000-pound male false killer whale with whom she shared a pool.
The hybrids thrive where the parents cannot. Tests show that the sand
The calf was a wholphin, a hybrid that was a cross of its parents in some
sunflower hybrid was better able than its parents to germinate, grow, and survive
characteristics, like having 66 teeth compared with the bottlenose’s 88 and the 44 of
in sand dunes. It did poorly in its parent’s habitats though. Similarly, the puzzle
the false killer whale, a much larger member of the dolphin family.
sunflower was much better at growing in salty conditions than its parents.
In 2006, a hunter in the Canadian Arctic shot a bear that had white fur like a polar
One lesson from the sunflowers appears to be that hybrids may succeed if
bear’s but had brown patches, long claws and a hump like a grizzly bear’s. DNA
they can take advantage of a different habitat or resources. This can happen in
analysis confirmed the animal was a hybrid of the two species.
animal hybrids as well.
While one might think that these strange animal combinations are examples
In the past 250 years, various forms of honeysuckle have been introduced
of some mistake in the animal kingdom, it turns out that hybridization is not so rare.
to the Northeastern states. It was discovered that this honeysuckle was infested
Some biologists estimate that as many as 10 percent of animal species and up to 25
by a particular fruit fly species they called the Lonicera fly. When they analyzed
percent of plant species may breed with another species. The more important issue
DNA to determine its relationship to others, they were stunned to find that it was
is not whether these relationships occasionally produce offspring, but the health of
a hybrid of two closely related flies, the blueberry maggot and the snowberry
the hybrid and whether two species might combine to give rise to a third, unique
maggot.
species.
In laboratory experiments, the researchers found that the Lonicera hybrid
One problem is that, even if members of different species might mate, when
preferred its honeysuckle host plant over its parent species’ host plants and that
the two species carry different numbers of chromosomes, the offspring are usually
each parent species preferred its own host plant over the other’s. However, both
infertile (can’t make working sperm or egg), and are therefore evolutionary dead
parents also liked honeysuckle. Research suggests that since the two parental
ends. A second problem is that any hybrid will usually be outnumbered and out
species were more likely to meet each other on honeysuckle, the honeysuckle
competed by one or both parent species, because resources are scarce.
served as a meeting place for the parents to mate and thus their hybrid offspring
But because species hybrids create new combinations of genes, it is possible
that some combinations might help hybrids adapt to conditions in which neither
now prefers honeysuckle.
The discovery of hybrid species and the detection of past hybridizations
parent may survive in. DNA analysis is now allowing biologists to better understand
are forcing biologists to change their picture of species as independent organisms.
the histories of species and to detect past hybridization events that have contributed
The barriers between species are not so large; sometimes they get crossed with
new genes and capabilities to various kinds of organisms.
marvelous results.
The sunflower is a great example of adaptation by hybrids. It has been
found that two species, the common sunflower and prairie sunflower, have
combined to give rise to three hybrid species: the sand sunflower, the desert
sunflower, and the puzzle sunflower.
List of Hybrids
Mallard and Any Duck = Mule Duck
ANIMALS
Horse and donkey= Mule
Marine Iguana and Land Iguana= hybrid
Iguana
Coyote and Wolf = Coy-wolf
PLANTS
Blackberry and Raspberry = Loganberry
Horse/Donkey and Zebra = Zebroid
Lime and Kumquat= Limequat
Black/Brown Bear and Polar Bear= Pizzly or
Grolar Bear
Spearmint and Watermint= Peppermint
American Bison and Domestic Cow= Beefalo
Plum and Apricot = pluot or Plumcot
False Killer Whale and Bottlenose Dolphin=
Wholfin
Grapefruit and Orange and Tangerine = Ugli
fruit or Uniq fruit
Camel and Llama= Cama
Wolf and Dog= Wolfdog
Sheep and Goat = Toast of Botswana
Sika deer and Elk = Silk Deer