Ligers, Tigons, and Zonkeys, Oh My!

For some unknown reason, I stayed up late last night looking at pictures of animal hybrids. At 11:30PM I had watched a segment on the Colbert Report concerning a grizzly/polar bear hybrid that had been killed by a hunter. Intrigued, I went online to discover more of these "freak of nature" creatures. (What can I say? I'm a total nerd!)

Thank my lucky stars, I found an entire site dedicated to animal hybrids! What I found most amusing was the names given to these forlorn-looking creatures: Zorse, Jaglion, Pumapard, Dogote. My favorite was beefalo. That just made me laugh, laugh, laugh. Beefalo!

Here are a few of the stranger-looking ones:

Zony --- Shetland Pony/Zebra Hybrid

Wolphin --- Whale/Dolphin Hybrid

Liger --- Lion/Tiger Hybrid (Considered the largest cats in the world)

Okapi --- Deer/Zebra Hybrid

OK, I'm just kidding about the last one. Okapis are actually forest giraffes (and the only living relative of the giraffe). Aren't they so cool-looking? And they only need five minutes of sleep per day!

Here's another interesting factoid: sheep and goat hybrids are called "geep" or, get this, the "toast of Botswana." Huh?

Anyway, I'm done being geeky. For crying out loud, I work at a space museum! Can I get any dorkier? Maybe if I start attending Star Trek conventions...