Hybrid Animals - how many have you seen?

DaLilFishie

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I thought this would be an interesting thread given how most (reputable) zoos and aquaria generally discourage hybridisation of their animals where possible, so it would be interesting to see what hybrids people actually have seen. I'm expecting the majority of the hybrids people have seen will be cases where two species were only recognised as distinct after hybrids had already been bred in captivity, mistakes from misidentification of the parent species, hybrids that occur naturally in the wild, or hybrids created for the pet trade (especially for birds and fishes). I won't be counting subspecific hybrids as these are relatively commonplace, both in zoos and the wild.

Bolded entries are those seen in the wild.

- Generic Giraffe Giraffa sp. × G. sp.

- Greylag × Swan Goose Anser anser × A. cygnoides
- Pacific Black Duck × Mallard Anas superciliosa × A. platyrhynchos
- Muscovy Duck × Mallard Cairinia moschata × Anas platyrhynchos
- Green × Crimson Rosella Platycercus caledonicus × P. eximius

- Hybrid Lory Eos bornea × Trichoglossus sp.
- Rainbow × Red-collared Lorikeet Trichoglossus moluccanus × T. rubritorquis

- Japanese × Reeve's Pond Turtle Mauremys japonica × reevesii
- Japanese Stream × Eastern-Japanese Toad Bufo torrenticola × B. formosus
- Japanese × Chinese Giant Salamander Andrias japonicus × sp.
- Axolotl × Tiger Salamander Ambystoma mexicanum × tigrinum (all domestic-type Axolotls are some degree of hybrid with Tiger Salamanders)

- Hybrid River Ray Potamotrygon sp. × sp.
- Chinese Bleak × Kikuchi-hinamoroko Aphyocypris chinensis × A. kikuchii
- Tiger Trout Salmo trutta × Salvelinus fontinalis
- Guppy × Endler's Livebearer Poecilia reticulatus × P. wingei (essentially all domestic-type guppies are some degree of hybrid with endlers, and vice versa)
- Hybrid Molly Poecilia sp. × P. sp. (all domestic-type Sailfin and Common mollies are some degree of hybrid with each other, as well as potentially other Poecilia species)
- Southern Platy × Green Swordtail Xiphophorus maculatus × X. helleri (all domestic-type platies are hybrids with green swordtail, and potentially multiple other Xiphophorus species, and vice versa)
- Western Australian × Western Spiny Seahorse Hippocampus subelongatus × H. angustus
- Malanda × Eastern Rainbowfish Melanotaenia sp. 'Malanda' × M. splendida
- Blood Parrot Cichlid Amphilophus citrinellus × Vieja melanurus
- Flowerhorn Cichlid Amphilophus labiatus × Cichlasoma trimaculatum
- Hybrid Peacock Cichlid Aulonocara sp. × A. sp. (multiple varieties likely descending from different species pairings)
- Afra × Yellow Dingani Cichlid Cynotilapia afra × Chindongo flavus
- Hybrid Discus Symphysodon sp. × S. sp. (essentially all discus sold in the aquarium trade, except wild-caught specimens and those line-bred from recently wild-caught ancestors, are hybrids)
- Striped × Spotted Knifejaw Oplegnathus fasciatus × punctatus
- Dot-and-dash × Spotbanded Butterflyfish Chaetodon pelewensis × punctatofasciatus
- Goldlined × Bluelined Rabbitfish Siganus lineatus × doliatus


- Artemia NYOS Artemia sp. × A. sp. (these are what are sold as 'sea-monkeys', a hybrid artemia developed for a longer lifespan and, I believe, larger size. I don't know if the species that were hybridised to create these have ever been revealed.)
 
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Here are three of the more interesting ones I've seen:


Wild-occurring hybrid between White-headed and Francois' Langur:

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hybrid langur - ZooChat


Hybrid between spoonbill and ibis:

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hybrid ibis x spoonbill - ZooChat


Hybrid between chicken and pheasant:

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hybrid ring-necked pheasant X chicken - ZooChat
 
Most interesting one I've seen is probably a Swoose- Mute Swan x Chinese-type goose, produced by free-living/feral pair. I missed another(different) one which had one Canada goose parent as when I visited the small lake where it lived, it had flown out to feed with the geese in neighbouring fields. (This pairing produced young in several years.)
 
There's a local petting zoo with a zedonk.

Met a Bengal cat at a flea market once.

Seen red factor canaries in pet stores.

A family friend has two mules.

And I got to pet a wolfdog last December.
 
I visited the AZA-accredited Shark Reef Aquarium (Las Vegas, Nevada) in 2015 and the facility had several posters and signs promoting their "Golden Crocodile" that was on display. It was nothing more than a Crocodylus porosus x siamensis hybrid specimen, apparently common at many croc farms, but I was surprised to see a reputable aquarium promoting such an individual.

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I know for sure I’ve seen a common dolphin x bottlenose hybrid (Bullet, at SeaWorld San Diego), possibly a hybrid river stingray as they often cross, and an imperial king snake at some point or another. I’ve also seen that crocodile a few posts above if it was alive in 2009 - by the time I went back in 2020, they’d brought in Johnston’s (freshwater) crocodiles. In terms of the more commonplace or expected hybrids I know I’ve seen a mule at some point in my childhood at a petting zoo.
 
Surprised to not see any mentions of macaw hybrids yet, I saw a Catalina macaw many years ago now.

Other notables would include Bullet the Common x Bottlenose, a handful of Rainbow lorikeet complex hybrids, Red-naped x Red-breasted Sapsucker, Canada x Snow/Ross's Goose, and the Indigo Dottyback (P. fridmani x sankeyi).
 
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