This article itself isn’t that good, but the concept is a cool one. Supposedly, in Bhutan, a mule gave birth. Mules are supposed to be sterile, because they are crossbreeds from horses & donkeys. Cross-bred animals are supposed to not be able to reproduce. If I remember my ninth-grade biology correctly, the only reason a horse and donkey can produce offspring at all is because their chromosomes are within a certain degree of similarity to one another.

The article says that some other mules have given birth in the past. But that chromosomal evidence revealed they were in fact donkeys. But maybe their chromosome mutated or something cool like that. It makes me wonder if this sort of thing has happened much in the animal kingdom, where animals cross-breed,for whatever reason, and then through some twist of nature, then end up producing offspring when they aren’t supposed to.

It also makes me wonder if that article about those pigs in Kenya (which had been getting sexed up by stray dogs) were going to start producing a race of halfbreed pig-dogs. I suppose not, since their chromosomes are probably too different. But nature seems to love playing crazy tricks like that, so who knows.

It also makes me think vague thoughts about neanderthals and cro-magnons. I’ve heard people suggest that neanderthals were, in fact, absorbed into our genetic stream… Plus, it reminds me of this cool comic book I used to read in middle or highschool, called “Breed” (I think) about this dude who’s dad was a demon and whose mom was a woman. Or something like that.