Growth & Evolution : Hybrids

GROWTH AND EVOLUTION : HYBRIDS

Hybrids are the offspring of two plants or animals of different species or varieties, a thing made by combining two different elements. Whilst hybrids can occur naturally, for the most part especially in modern times, its due to human interference, however direct or indirectly the interference is. Below is a list of hybrids found in more recent years...

Hybrid animals include;

MULES are mixes of male donkeys and female horses.

BEEFALOS are mixes of American bison and a cow.

URSID HYBRIDS occur between black bears, polar bears and brown bears. (The above picture is of a Grizzly/Polar bear hybrid)

LIGERS are mixes of a male lion and a female tiger, and a TION is a female lion mixed with a male tiger.

CANID HYBRIDS occur between cyotes, wolves, dingoes, jackals and domesticated dogs.

WHOLPHINS  are mixes of false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins, they are very rare.

A CAMA is a mix of a camel and a llama.

• Ligers are the results of breeding a male lion with a female tiger (and a Tion is the reverse). This is a completely human induced process, due to lions and tigers naturally living in habitats thousands of miles away from each other so it would be physically impossible for them to naturally breed without human interference. The offspring usually suffer from birth defects and may die young.

• A Grolar bear is a Grizzly bear and a Polar bear hybrid, of very rare occurence due to (although sharing the same countries) the fact polar and grizzly bears tend to avoid each other. Theories for the cause of this naturally occurring hybrid may be that polar bears are being driven southward by the melting of their ice cap habitats, bringing them into closer contact with the grizzlies.

Growth & Evolution : Supernumerary Body Parts

GROWTH AND EVOLUTION : SUPERNUMERARY BODY PARTS

After looking at the mythological creatures which are cases of ancient mythological polycephaly in the previous post I also noticed that a lot of the cases had multiple arms and legs, as well as heads. This lead me to discovering about supernumerary body parts. What are they? Well supernumerary body parts are a surprisingly common congenital disorder involving growth of an additional part of the body, a deviation from the normal body plan. Body parts can be easily visible such as arms and legs, or can be hidden, like internal organs.

SPECIFIC TYPES

• Accessory breast - One or more extra breasts.
• Accessory spleen - One or more extra spleens.
• Cervical rib - An additional rib.
• Diphillia - Having two penises.
• Hermaphroditism - Having both sex's sex organs.
• Hyperdonita - Extra teeth.
• Polycephaly - Having and extra head.
• Polydactyly - Additional fingers or toes.
• Polymelia - An extra arm or leg.
• Polyorchidism - Having 3 or more testicles.
• Supernumerary kidney - A 3rd kidney (or in extreme cases 4+)
• Supernumerary nipples - Extra nipples.
• Supernumerary phantom limbs - Where the brain thinks/ acts as though a limb is attached to the body when it is not.
• Syndactyly - Webbing between the toes and fingers.
• Uterus didelphys - Two vaginal canals and/or unteri.

Related conditions and concepts may include...

• Vestigial structures are anatomical structures rendered almost (or even completely) un-needed since their original function due to evolution. EG. the appendix in human anatomy, muscles in ear (for movement), or the muscle that keeps the head from falling.
• A Chimera is a single organism composed of genetically distinct cells, or in other words, two different genetic beings in one body. This can result in both male and female organs, two blood types, subtle variations in form, or even different DNA to it's offspring.

Growth & Evolution : Polycephaly in Mythology

POLYCEPHALY IN MYTHOLOGY

After looking at cases of polycephaly in the previous post, we must now consider the mythological cases of polycephaly of which are depicted in art more than polycephalic animals of the real world...

GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Multi-headedness and mixed up creatures and animals are abundant in greek mythology so I figured it would be a great place to start. 

CERBERUS is a 3 headed dog/ hellhound with a serpents tail and a mane of snakes, who's feet hold lion's claws. Cerberus guards the entrance to the underworld to prevent the dead from escaping and the living from entering. 











LADON is a serpent-like dragon who can, depending on the myth, have up to 100 heads.

CHIMERA, a fire breathing creature with a lion's head, a goat's head rising from it's back, and a tail ending with a snake's head.















LERNEAN HYDRA is a serpent-like water monster with many heads, each of which if the get cut off, two more will grow in it's place. 


ORTHRUS is the brother of Cerberus, but instead of sharing the trait of 3 heads, Orthrus has oonly 2 heads.















THE HECATONCHEIRES are three giants, each with 100 hands and 50 heads, who guard the gates of Tartarus, who also helped overthrow the Titans.















JANUS is the two headed god of beginnings and transitions, gates, passages, endings and time. His two heads symbolize one looking to the future and the other looking to the past. 



HINDU MYTHOLOGY

Rather a lot of Hindu gods and deities have multiple heads, or even limbs, so these may not all come under the term of polycephalic beings but they are all mythological forms of teratologically categorised beings.















AGNI is the Vedic god of fire. He has two heads (one marks immortality and the  other marks an unknown symbol of life) and can be depicted with 7 hands and 3 legs.













DATTATREYA is the 3 headed, 6 handed lord of yoga, displaying tantric traits.














BRAHMA is the god of creation, he has 4 heads continually reciting one of the 4 vedas, he also has 4 arms.


GAYATRI is feminine form of a sanskrit word for a song. She is usually portrayed as having 5 heads and 10 arms.

KARTIKEYA is the god of wisdom, love, war and victory. His 6 heads are to represent the 6 'Siddhis' bestowed upon yogis over the course/ evolution of their spiritual development.



Other religions depict multi-headed and multi-limbed creatures/beings such as...

TAOISM:

NEZHA is sometimes shown with 3 heads and 6 arms.

OCCULTISM:

BUNE is an occult demon depicted as a 3 headed dragon, the heads being those of a man, a dog and a griffin.

EGYPTIAN:

NEHEBKAU is a 2 headed snake that guards the gates to the underworld.


(One idea for developing ideas in the future could be placing the creatures from the myths into modern day scenarios.)