Why cant we breed one type of animal with another?

Question

Lets say a lion and a tiger or a dog with a cat?

Answer 1

Why don't you go and impregnate a dog.. let me know how it goes for ya!

Answer 2

Ever hear of a Liger? It is a lion cross with a tiger, not sure which is male and which is female. They have different name depending on whether the mother was the tiger or the lion. Also, a mule comes from a donkey and a horse. All of these animals are of the same type though, which is what you need for it to work. So you wouldn't be able to cross a dog with a cat.

Answer 3

Ok, Llons and tigers can have kittens, depending on which one was the mother it is either a liger or a tion, they do exist, but they are usually steral. A dog and a cat are to different species so the sperm does not have the proper enzymes to even make it into the egg. It is the same with all seperate species, but some animals are close enough that they can have offspring, like donkeys and horses, or wolves and dogs. The only way to find out what can breed with what is to find out, but usually the differences in the genes and sperm-egg incompatability are the reasons why you can't have a cat/dog.

Answer 4

Animals of the same species occasionally interbreed eg: a LIGON is the offspring of a lion and tiger mating. However given the limits of evolution and the principles of natural selection such aberrations are usually short lived and may not produce any further offspring.
A mutation is necessitated to overcome an evolutionary hurdle but the hallmark of any successful species is adaptablity and extreme specialisation, say as in speed for the big cat cheetah, can often lead you into a evolutionary deadend.

Answer 5

It moslty has to do with receptors on the cell walls. Each cell has specialized entry portals. In order for a sperm cell to access an egg cell and combine with it, the sperm cell has to secrete a specialized protein that can be recieved by the receptors on the cell wall of the egg. If the protein is not the right kind, the egg will reject the sperm and conception will not take place. This not only prevents different breeds from crossing, but sometimes prevents cells which have mutated and are not normal from maturing. In extreme situations a sperm or egg cell will change and allow conception to take place anyway. This is how donkeys, some breed of dogs, cats, and it is theorized evolution has taken place.

For plants the cells are a little different as are the methods of fertilization, but the cell wall in the reproductive cells works the same way. Scientist have manufactured proteins to cause some different crossbreeds to occur for food....anything seedless, tangelos, some types of onions, etc.

Viruses reproduce in an entirely different way, but they also use the cell wall as access.

Answer 6

You CAN! Hybrid - Strictly defined is an offspring of animals that is a cross between two
different varieties, species or genera (in rare cases,
families).
Hybrid - Loosely defined is a cross between parents of two different subspecies
or varieties of species; a crossbreed or mongrel
Here are some examples:
Hinny - Mule
Hybrid Dogs
Wolphin
Leopon - Jaglion - Pumapard
Hybrid Elephant
Tiger Cross - Ocelot/Puma
Kangaroo
Bears Liger - Tigon
Beefalo - Cattalo
Chimera - Geep
Polecat/Ferret
Chausie - Tabby/African Wild Cat
Yak Crosses
Sheep Zorse - Zonkey - Zony
Bengal - Savannah Cats
Bobcat/Lynx - Caracal - Servical
Cama - Llamel
Pig/Wild Pig
Grevy Zebra/Somalia ***
Fowl /many types
Coydog-coyote/dog

Answer 7

Thats kindda simple. To breed a spesies, the two spesies must be the same which means the number of chromosomes in their cell's nucleuses are same.

Coz, when the chromosomes pairs during fertilization, each must have a pair to express its traits. An extra unpaired chromosome won't do.

ex. wolf(56 chroms(crapping))
Sparrow(76 chroms)
it just doesnt match, therefore cell divition wont happen. Plus, there're certain enzymes that each spesies need to reproduce.

So, there are just so many differences. Unless scientists have found a way to even the chromosomes' number and prepare the perfect solution for inter spesies reproduction.

Answer 8

it is genetically impossible. Each type of animal has its own set number of chromosomes and if the pairs cant match up, then there is no conception. There is only one exception that I can think of for that and that it crossing a horse witha donkeyto get a mule. Donkeys have one less chromosome than a horse so when the sperm and the egg meet, the one horse chromosome "falls off" and dissappears. This causes a mule to be sterile. The only way to get a mule is to cross a horse with a donkey.

Answer 9

Different "breeds" can intermingle their genetic code. I think you meant to say "species". And lions and tigers *can* mate. Haven't you seen Napoleon Dynamite? Dang!

And to Ben:

Mules are the offspring of donkeys and horses. They generally don't breed because most are born sterile. You can most certainly breed two donkeys. You had the right idea, just the wrong facts.

Answer 10

becuase they have different genes and are from different family groups. a lion and a tiger can have offspring, it's called a liger, but ligers cannot reproduce. A dog and a cat on the other hand aren't closely related enough to be able to reproduce.

Answer 11

It's a gene/cell thing. It helps keep nature in balance. That's why we don't have cats walking around with a dogs head sheeps legs and a pigs body. It's for the same reason a human can't breed with a gorilla.The genes and cells don't mix. Very different chemistry