Slate relies on advertising to support our journalism. Others are just too aggressive to be domesticated, which may lead to attacks on and even the death of the breeder. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. In fact, there are recorded accounts of sexual contact between humans and practically every kind of animal. (If we’re not even trying to mate with monkeys, we’ll never have half-human, half-monkey babies. Another method is to take young wild coyotes from their mothers and train them into adulthood. In 1750, one Jacques Farron was convicted and hanged for having intercourse with a female donkey.

The hippo once chased a man and his grandson up a tree after they canoed on the river that ran through Els’s farm. The gist of their testimony was that they had known the donkey for many years and that she had always behaved herself virtuously and in every respect as a good donkey should. All contents © 2020 The Slate Group LLC. The second type of barrier includes “post-zygotic reproductive isolating mechanisms,” or those factors that would make it impossible for a hybrid animal fetus to grow into a reproductive adult. Unfortunately for the king, the plan never worked out.

While the resultant hybrid is less aggressive toward humans, it is not a true coyote. Explainer thanks Trenton Holliday of Tulane University. Some closely related species can mate even if they have different numbers of chromosomes. This teeny tot who couldn't be any happier about being with her new dad. We’re the last Homos on Earth, and breeding between us and great apes is simply impossible. All the most important cat stories of the week. Despite their similarities to dogs, they are not considered dogs and are not domesticated. © 2020 Getty Images. @JMyint – I disagree, the designation of species vs. genus isn’t the end all and be all, genetics is. Bonobos are unique on this list because they are not wild animals. He settled on the moose.
Select 100 images or less to download. Przewalski’s horse, for example, has 33 pairs of chromosomes instead of the 32 most horses have, but it can interbreed with regular equines anyway—the offspring takes the average and ends up with 65 chromosomes. Ethical considerations preclude definitive research on the subject, but it’s safe to say that human DNA has become so different from that of other animals that interbreeding would likely be impossible.
Got a question about today’s news? There are many cases of animals of the same genus but different species producing offspring. Foxes are difficult to domesticate because of their unbelievable stubbornness.