Why Can't Mules Have Babies?

Hybrid animals are infertile because of the way their sex cells form. But sometimes, life finds a way. FYI: We try to leave jargon out of our videos, but if you want to learn more about this topic, here are some handy keywords to get your googling started: - Hybrid organisms: The offspring of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species or genera. - Mitosis: A process of cell division that produces copies of the original cell. - Meiosis: A process of cell dividion that produces new daughter cells with half the chromosome number of the original cell. - Sex cell, or gamete: a cell that fuses with another cell during fertilization (conception) in organisms that sexually reproduce. - Hemiclonal transmission: The rare occurence in which only maternal DNA gets passed along during the creation of sex cells. Species featured in this video: - Mule, is the offspring of a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare) - Liger, is a hybrid cross between a male lion (Panthera leo) and a female tiger (Panthera tigris) - Zonkey, is the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. Zebra hybrids are generally known as zebroids - Beefalo, also known as cattalo, is the offspring of a domestic cattle (Bos taurus) and an American buffalo (Bison bison) - Cama, is the offspring of a male dromedary camel and a female llama.