axa12@po.CWRU.Edu (Ashok Aiyar) (04/28/91)
I have just been told that cats and rabbits can mate under domesticated situations, producing offspring called "cabbits". I was uder the impression that rabbits were rodents and cats were felines, and that such a mating could not be successful. If this correct? Could someone please comment on "cabbits". Also I would be interested in knowing about other inter-species offspring such as "tigons", "ligers" and "mules". Thank you! Ashok -- Ashok Aiyar axa12@po.cwru.edu aiyar@cwbio.bioc.cwru.edu
dbell@cup.portal.com (David J Bell) (04/29/91)
>I have just been told that cats and rabbits can mate under >domesticated situations, producing offspring called "cabbits". >I was uder the impression that rabbits were rodents and cats were >felines, and that such a mating could not be successful. If this >correct? Could someone please comment on "cabbits". >Also I would be interested in knowing about other inter-species >offspring such as "tigons", "ligers" and "mules". >Ashok Aiyar Mate? Yes, I suppose so. Produce offspring? Forget it... The species are too far apart. "Tigons" and "Ligers" I don't know about; I'd doubt it. "Mules" are perfectly common, crosses between donkies and horses. The term has come to be a generic for such inter-breeds, which are virtually always sterile offspring. Simliar crosses have been made, I understand, between horses and zebras. Rumors of Human/lower Primate crosses abound, and are probably just rumors... Dave
kell@cs.albany.edu (Brian A. Kell) (04/29/91)
In article <41794@cup.portal.com>, dbell@cup.portal.com (David J Bell) writes: > >I have just been told that cats and rabbits can mate under > >domesticated situations, producing offspring called "cabbits". > > Mate? Yes, I suppose so. Produce offspring? Forget it... Sure they can! cats and rabbits have been cross-breeding for years! But, they're not called "cabbits", they're called "rats"... ;-)
rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu (Mickey Rowe) (04/29/91)
In article <1991Apr28.152146.1353@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> axa12@po.CWRU.Edu (Ashok Aiyar) writes: > > >I have just been told that cats and rabbits can mate under >domesticated situations, producing offspring called "cabbits". I severely doubt that this is true. >I was uder the impression that rabbits were rodents and cats were >felines, and that such a mating could not be successful. Actually, rabbits are lagomorphs, and cats are carnivores. In any case their relationship is quite distant, and I suspect that their genetic structures are sufficiently different that no such offspring could be produced. >Also I would be interested in knowing about other inter-species >offspring such as "tigons", "ligers" and "mules". Tigons and ligers do exist (at least according to local news stations). The difference between the two is whether the male was the lion or the tiger (I don't remember which is which). This was a current topic here in Philadelphia a couple of years back because our zoo had another animal (I think they called it a ligon) which was a cross between one of these hybrids and another "pure" cat. Sorry that I don't remember the details any better. Mules are crosses between horses and donkeys. They are canonically sterile, but I have a hazy memory that this isn't always the case (though I'm sure it is in the vast majority of such pairings...) >Ashok Aiyar Mickey Rowe (rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu)
annick@physiol.su.oz.au (Annick Ansselin) (04/29/91)
In <1991Apr28.152146.1353@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> axa12@po.CWRU.Edu (Ashok Aiyar) writes: >I have just been told that cats and rabbits can mate under >domesticated situations, producing offspring called "cabbits". >I was uder the impression that rabbits were rodents and cats were >felines, and that such a mating could not be successful. If this >correct? Could someone please comment on "cabbits". >Also I would be interested in knowing about other inter-species >offspring such as "tigons", "ligers" and "mules". I think someone has been pulling your leg (they could not possibly be serious surely!) There is no way a cat and rabbit could have live progeny. They belong to completely different families, let alone genus & species. Mules come from a cross between a horse and a donkey who are closely related (same genus different species?) and as far as I know are sterile. The press has had articles about tigons/ligons over the years, but I have no idea of their accuracy - I suppose it implies a cross between a tiger and a lion. Maybe someone else has definite information about these.
jcollier@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (John Donald Collier) (04/29/91)
In article <1991Apr28.152146.1353@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> axa12@po.CWRU.Edu (Ashok Aiyar) writes: >I have just been told that cats and rabbits can mate under >domesticated situations, producing offspring called "cabbits". >I was uder the impression that rabbits were rodents and cats were >felines, and that such a mating could not be successful. If this >correct? Could someone please comment on "cabbits". Yeh, they showed a picture of a cabbit on the local TV news program in London Ontario about 13 years ago. It was raised by a local farmer. It sat on the rear steps, eating a carrot, with a bunny's tail, and pointy cat ears. It was clearly a hoax, but the local station was taken in. They published a retraction about a week later. I don't know which I found funnier, this cat's face gobbling down the carrot (cats might eat carrots, but they don't gnaw and gobble) or the realization that the station had been taken in. Cabbits are actually a common rural phenomenon, along with unicorns. -- John Collier Email: Collier@HPS.unimelb.edu.au HPS -- University of Melbourne jcollier@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu Parkville, Victoria, AUSTRALIA 3052 Fax: 61+3 344 7959
rjg2@ukc.ac.uk (R.J.Gibson) (04/29/91)
In article <42178@netnews.upenn.edu> rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu (Mickey Rowe) writes: >>I have just been told that cats and rabbits can mate under >>domesticated situations, producing offspring called "cabbits". > >I severely doubt that this is true. >In any case their relationship is quite distant, and I suspect that their >genetic structures are sufficiently different that no such offspring >could be produced. > >>Ashok Aiyar > >Mickey Rowe (rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu) I also do not think that this is likly. However, I will not dismiss this as absolute nonsense as I have never seen any proof that this is so. I do think that under "natural" conditions that a cat would not try to mate with a rabbit, infact I think it would eat it!!.. but with A.I.D this could be overcome. Now as to whether a live offspring wolud be produced, well, I doubt it. But in science one cannot say "NOT TRUE" until you have tried. Obviously I am agreeing with you on this so well I thought i might just say so. Ro.
lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell) (04/30/91)
In article <41794@cup.portal.com> dbell@cup.portal.com (David J Bell) writes: <Ashok Aiyar> >>I have just been told that cats and rabbits can mate under >>domesticated situations, producing offspring called "cabbits". >>I was uder the impression that rabbits were rodents and cats were >>felines, and that such a mating could not be successful. If this >>correct? Could someone please comment on "cabbits". > >>Also I would be interested in knowing about other inter-species >>offspring such as "tigons", "ligers" and "mules". > > <Dave> >Mate? Yes, I suppose so. Produce offspring? Forget it... The >species are too far apart. "Tigons" and "Ligers" I don't know >about; I'd doubt it. "Mules" are perfectly common, crosses between >donkies and horses. The term has come to be a generic for such >inter-breeds, which are virtually always sterile offspring. Aren't rabbits parthenogenetic? Maybe that's what happened. Also buffalo and cattle.... >Simliar crosses have been made, I understand, between horses >and zebras. Rumors of Human/lower Primate crosses abound, and >are probably just rumors... This is called the "Quayle". >:-)
lpsmith@wheaton.uucp (Lucian P. Smith) (05/01/91)
In article <42178@netnews.upenn.edu> rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu (Mickey Rowe) writes: >In article <1991Apr28.152146.1353@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> axa12@po.CWRU.Edu (Ashok Aiyar) writes: >> >> (stuff deleted) >>Also I would be interested in knowing about other inter-species >>offspring such as "tigons", "ligers" and "mules". > (more stuff deleted) > >Mules are crosses between horses and donkeys. They are canonically >sterile, but I have a hazy memory that this isn't always the case >(though I'm sure it is in the vast majority of such pairings...) > >>Ashok Aiyar > >Mickey Rowe (rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu) My biology textbook explained why mules are sterile. Apparantly, horses have two more chromosomes than donkeys, and therefore the resultant mules have an odd number of chromosomes (I believe 33) and meiosis doesn't work. (This is somewhat hazy to me; it would seem like a mule could produce either donkeys or horses depending on the chance occurence in meiosis, but anyway,...) Every so often, disjuction (?) occurs in the parents of the mule, and the mule is left with an even number of chromosomes, and is fertile! The book mentions one such case somewhere (I forget the exact case, though I could look it up if anyone is interested.) This is, of course, very rare; the russian expression for "Once in a blue moon" is something like, "When a mule foals." :-) HAND. (Have A Nice Day) -Lucian -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"Do good? I? No! Evil anon I deliver. I maim nine more hero-men in Saginaw, sanitary sword a-tuck, Carol, I--lo!--Rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more hero-men in Miami. Reviled, I (Nona) live on. I do, O God!" ~~~~tellab5.chi.il.us!wheaton!lpsmith@gargoyle.uchicago.edu~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) (05/01/91)
In article <592@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au> jcollier@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (John Donald Collier) writes: >In article <1991Apr28.152146.1353@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> axa12@po.CWRU.Edu (Ashok Aiyar) writes: >>I have just been told that cats and rabbits can mate under >>domesticated situations, producing offspring called "cabbits". > Cabbits are actually a common rural phenomenon, along with unicorns. There is also the famous Jackalope, which is a rabbit with antlers, found depicted on postcards in Wyoming... The strangest cross i came across (bad pun, sorry :-) was a paper which reported a cell fusion of frog and carrot... if it survived and grew up would it jump up and down and have orange and green stripes? Tom Schneider National Cancer Institute Laboratory of Mathematical Biology Frederick, Maryland 21702-1201 toms@ncifcrf.gov
bredy@alkp.serum.kodak.com (Dan Bredy (x37360)) (05/21/91)
In article <41794@cup.portal.com> dbell@cup.portal.com (David J Bell) writes: >>I have just been told that cats and rabbits can mate under >>domesticated situations, producing offspring called "cabbits". >>I was uder the impression that rabbits were rodents and cats were >>felines, and that such a mating could not be successful. If this >>correct? Could someone please comment on "cabbits". > >>Also I would be interested in knowing about other inter-species >>offspring such as "tigons", "ligers" and "mules". > >>Ashok Aiyar > >Mate? Yes, I suppose so. Produce offspring? Forget it... The >species are too far apart. "Tigons" and "Ligers" I don't know >about; I'd doubt it. "Mules" are perfectly common, crosses between >donkies and horses. The term has come to be a generic for such >inter-breeds, which are virtually always sterile offspring. >Simliar crosses have been made, I understand, between horses >and zebras. Rumors of Human/lower Primate crosses abound, and >are probably just rumors... > >Dave The story about cabbits is an urban legend (I was flamed to a toasty crisp in rec.pets about this some months ago). Under some conditions cats and rabbits may mate (in heat), but reproduce? NEVER! I have seen a picture of a leon (a tiger, leopard mix) in an encyclopedia (circa 1968) so I am sure they, as well as ligers and tigons exist, but are infertile. The leon I saw looked like a leopard with a very short mane. Dan