If so what would the offspring look like? Would it look different depending on which species was the father?
Are there photos of such crosses?
2007-09-11 05:02:57 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
The genus and species of the two elephants are different, so I'm pretty sure a cross-breeding wouldn't be very successful, but it can be done. There was a reported case of a cross-breed. It's name was "Motty" and it only lived 12 days. There's some pictures at the second link in "sources".
2007-09-11 05:14:40 · answer #1 · answered by frenziedherring 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The answer from lardarrenstuart is right. That elephant is the only know breeding between an Asian and an African elephant.
2016-05-17 06:15:04 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Generally crossings between species are possible even if the animals would never actually meet naturally. However, the african (Loxodonta Africana) and asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are separated by more than species. They are sufficiently different enough that they have been put into another genus. Now, this does not mean that from a biological standpoint it would be impossible, however, i would think that most animals that are significantly different enough to be a completely different genus would have enough differences in their genes to make this impossible.
2007-09-11 07:59:20 · answer #3 · answered by SC 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
African and Asian elephants are quite significantly different. They have a long list of non-trivial physical differences and are not close genetically. It is not likely they could successfully crossbreed. If it did happen, the newborn would potentially be deformed and die.
To the person comparing African and Asian elephants to humans. All humans belong to one species. African and Asian elephants are different species.
2007-09-11 10:00:18 · answer #4 · answered by aarowswift 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Even if they are classed as different species it is feasible that they could be crossed if they are genetically similar. Eg donkey and horse (mule). However any resulting offspring would be sterile (as with a mule).
If the offspring were found to be able to reproduce then they would not be separate species.
A species is defined as a 'group of potentialy interbreeding individuals'.
2007-09-12 00:06:29 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it has happened once before in Chester zoo about thirty years ago. Unfortunately the baby elephant , 'Motty' was sickly and didn't live long. As I recall the mother was Indian and the father was African.
You could probably get a fair bit of detail from Wikipedia.
2007-09-11 07:06:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Since it is two elephant, I don;t see why not. It is like asking if an african american can be cross with an asian. They offspring appearance would depend on the dominant chromosomes of the parents
2007-09-11 05:18:56 · answer #7 · answered by SO_CAL 4 life 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
There is no reason why they could not cross. It would be similar to a tiger-lion crossing, "chromosomally"-speaking. I have no idea if this has been done, though. You might get luck with a Google search.
2007-09-11 05:13:06 · answer #8 · answered by Lady Geologist 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
yes they can I read that zoo throughout the world breed these elephants with one another.
2007-09-11 06:24:27 · answer #9 · answered by slamdunk195946cd 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i thought they had crossed them. But i could be wrong.
2007-09-11 05:11:12 · answer #10 · answered by nascar_cr8zy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋