• Question: Is there any specie of a human and an fused together.

    Asked by 365cesk28 to Paul, Natasha on 7 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Natasha Myhill

      Natasha Myhill answered on 7 Nov 2017:

      Hey, I am not completely sure what the question is, but I think no? Humans, or Homo sapiens if you want the Latin name, are a distinct species from every other animal. The main thing is that if you cross-breed two different species of animal – such as the Liger (Lion and tiger) – the new animal often has health problems or isn’t as fertile. This means that they cannot reproduce well and unless many were forced to breed, a new species wouldn’t thrive. New species are most likely to occur by evolving over a long period of time I think.

    • Photo: Paul McKeegan

      Paul McKeegan answered on 7 Nov 2017:

      So you CAN fuse different species together to make something called a chimera, but it is very hard, and very strictly controlled. This is named for a mythological monster that was made up of several different animals, usually a lion, goat and snake. The science term chimera includes fusing different species together or fusing tissues from different individuals of the same species together. Technically, doing a bone marrow transplant is a type of chimerism!

      In terms of fusing species, you can inject cells from one species into the embryo of another. This is very hard to do, and not very successful, but if the species are relatively similar the two cell groups can survive together for a little while. I don’t think we have any record of a chimeric animal being born – and am not sure this is allowed under ethical laws at the moment.

      Check this out:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38717930

Comments

  • Photo: Eoin

    Eoin commented on :

    Hi – the closest thing is a something called a chimaera (named after a mythical Greek beast that had bits of Lion, snake and dragon..!). If we transplant one humans cells in to another (stem cell transplant) they combine together to give blood that is mixed from two people in some instances. cells don’t join up but the blood can be made up of two types of cell. Pretty cool! You can also find cells from a foetus going round in its mothers blood during a pregnancy. Not sure if that addresses the question, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless!!