I wonder what the reaction would be if it was decided to put all these animals down, personally I think I would actually support such a move as a clear signal to animals collections and the public that these hybrids are wrong - would you extend the same to more common hybrids such as a mule for example though?
I was pretty suprised to see that Colchester Zoo had a zonkey at one point that was kept on display at some point not too long ago.
As you said, I can't see any point other than the "wow/money making" factor - no coincidence that Ligers are more common/well known than the small Tigon!
The thing that gets me is that there ARE zoo's around that seem intent on breeding hybrids - often in America (of course) and take great pride in their abominations, the story of the wolphin sent shivers down my spine - "The first captive wholphin was born on May 15, 1985 where a female bottlenose dolphin named Punahele and a male false killer whale named Tanui Hahai shared a pool. The wholphin's size, color and shape are intermediate between the parent species. Named Kekaimalu, she has 66 teeth - intermediate between a bottlenose (88 teeth) and false killer whale (44 teeth).
The wholphin proved fertile when she gave birth at a very young age. Unfortunately, the calf died after a few days. However, in 1991, Kekaimalu gave birth once again, to daughter Pohaikealoha. For 2 years she cared for the calf, but did not nurse it (it was hand-reared by trainers). Pohaikealoha died at age 9.
On December 23, 2004, Kekaimalu had her third calf, daughter Kawili'Kai, sired by a male bottlenose. This calf did nurse and was very playful. Only months after birth, it was the size of a 1-year-old bottlenose dolphin.
Both remain in captivity, and are now part of the normal tour at Sea Life Park. The backstage tour must be taken to see the wholphins. Kekaimalu is featured in the main dolphin show at Sea Life Park."
You would think that breeding such a thing in the first place would create outrage, not prompt the response to keep trying to breed from the animal - especially with the events that happened with it's offspring.
It seems that the public perception with a lot of these animals is verging on positive - wonder how the same people would react if a human/chimp hybrid was produced!:
Humanzee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and not just finches - I'm told his Bengalese finches would incubate pretty much everything he had.
) are an obligatory part of our modern Zoos nowadays.
