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Rare 'goat-sheep' born on Irish farm

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Rare 'goat-sheep' born on Irish farm

#21

Post by arethuza »

randallu wrote: post #14

My understanding is that human-neanderthal interbreeding rarely resulted in viable offspring (though some did, and is where blonde/ginger hair and blue eyes come from in modern humans). Is that similar here? Are there traits in modern goats or sheep that came from the other?

As a Scot I might be a bit touchy about this (Scots have the highest proportion of redheads and I carry the gene even though my hair and eyes are very dark):

"A DNA study has concluded that some Neanderthals also had red hair, although the mutation responsible for this differs from that which causes red hair in modern humans."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair#Origins

Re: Rare 'goat-sheep' born on Irish farm

#22

Post by grey413 »

geuis wrote: post #12

How closely related are the two species. Hybrids between species of horses and cats are common. Same for canines. But it didn't occur to me that wheels and goats are that closely related

Goat and sheep lineages diverged approximately five to eight million years ago[1]. For reference, human and gorilla lines diverged roughly six to eight million years ago[2].

Also, different breeds of dogs are considered the same species (and likewise with cats).

[1] http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/89/44/91/PDF/hal-008...

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolutionary_genetics#Div...

Re: Rare 'goat-sheep' born on Irish farm

#24

Post by jeremyjh »

grey413 wrote: post #22
geuis wrote: post #12

How closely related are the two species. Hybrids between species of horses and cats are common. Same for canines. But it didn't occur to me that wheels and goats are that closely related

Goat and sheep lineages diverged approximately five to eight million years ago[1]. For reference, human and gorilla lines diverged roughly six to eight million years ago[2]. Also, different breeds of dogs are considered the same species (and likewise with cats). [1] http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/89/44/91/PDF/hal-008... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolutionary_genetics#Div...

There are multiple species of cats (e.g. domestic, bobcat, leopard) and some can interbreed.

Re: Rare 'goat-sheep' born on Irish farm

#25

Post by giardini »

grey413 wrote: post #22
geuis wrote: post #12

How closely related are the two species. Hybrids between species of horses and cats are common. Same for canines. But it didn't occur to me that wheels and goats are that closely related

Goat and sheep lineages diverged approximately five to eight million years ago[1]. For reference, human and gorilla lines diverged roughly six to eight million years ago[2]. Also, different breeds of dogs are considered the same species (and likewise with cats). [1] http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/89/44/91/PDF/hal-008... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolutionary_genetics#Div...

Humans and gorillas? What about our ancestors and those of pigs? I found this hypothesis fascinating:

"A chimp-pig hybrid origin for humans?"

http://phys.org/news/2013-07-chimp-pig-hybrid-humans.html

from the article:

" I asked McCarthy if he could give a date estimate for the hybridization event, he said that there are a couple broad possibilities: (1) It might be that hybridization between pigs and apes produced the earliest hominids millions of years ago and that subsequent mating within this hybrid swarm eventually led to the various hominid types and to modern humans; (2) separate crosses between pigs and apes could have produced separate hominids (and there's even a creepy possibility that hybridization might even still be occurring in regions where Sus and Pan still seem to come into contact, like Southern Sudan)."

Re: Rare 'goat-sheep' born on Irish farm

#26

Post by rqebmm »

Revex wrote: post #2

While I find this fascinating, it does seem a bit curious to post this in a hacker forum. I was half way expecting to read that the farmer had been "bio-hacking" trying to come up with a healthy hybrid.

>On-Topic[1]: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.

I certainly found it interesting that this sort of thing is possible in nature. Other's mileage may vary but that's what the voting process is for, no?

[1]http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Rare 'goat-sheep' born on Irish farm

#27

Post by Blahah »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #18
geuis wrote: post #12

How closely related are the two species. Hybrids between species of horses and cats are common. Same for canines. But it didn't occur to me that wheels and goats are that closely related

I would be surprised to see a hybrid of horses and cats but it would certainly be the ideal gift kitten AND a pony! Wondering if they pronounce 'geep' as "gee eep" or "jeep".

It's geep, with hard 'g' as in 'go'

Re: Rare 'goat-sheep' born on Irish farm

#28

Post by a8da6b0c91d »

nnq wrote: post #20
randallu wrote: post #14

My understanding is that human-neanderthal interbreeding rarely resulted in viable offspring (though some did, and is where blonde/ginger hair and blue eyes come from in modern humans). Is that similar here? Are there traits in modern goats or sheep that came from the other?

...where do you have that "understanding" from?! Are there any actual information about the 'Homo sapiens sapiens' 'Homo sapiens neanderthalensis' contact and relationship or are you just spreading someone's wild guesses?

Most Europeans have Neanderthal genes.

http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2014/04/neandertals-gave-europe...

Re: Rare 'goat-sheep' born on Irish farm

#30

Post by xahrepap »

jeremyjh wrote: post #24
grey413 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goat and sheep lineages diverged approximately five to eight million years ago[1]. For reference, human and gorilla lines diverged roughly six to eight million years ago[2]. Also, different breeds of dogs are considered the same species (and likewise with cats). [1] http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/89/44/91/PDF/hal-008... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolutionary_genetics#Div...

There are multiple species of cats (e.g. domestic, bobcat, leopard) and some can interbreed.

There was a Liger at the local Zoo out here in Utah. It died before I was born, but they had it stuffed and on display for years.

No mystical powers though.

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