Could a Wolverine and a Honey Badger produce a fertile hybrid offspring?

[Capsule Corp.]

Either naturally or if either of the two could be inseminated. They're both Mustelids afterall.

 

They could probably also produce offspring with a giant otter, right?

Edited November 25, 2015 by Capsule Corp.

[TheGeckomancer]

Being in the same family does not always guarantee breeding capabilities. And usually the offspring even when possible will not actually be a species as they are unable to mate. Looking at you ligers.

[Capsule Corp.]

But a female liger could be fertile, even if a male one would be sterile. Leopons tend to be fertile.

[TheGeckomancer]

That does not a species make. The female liger cannot breed with a male liger. Really I don't think you will find anyone on here who is qualified enough to tell you if hypothetically you can mix those 2. And I would rather not know if someone here has that kind of first hand experience. I would say the odds are slim at best. Being in same family doesn't mean that much. You need a VERY VERY similar genetic structure. Like I don't think scientists are sure if humans can cross breed with chimps and we are like 98.8% same DNA.

[CharonY]

The split between tiger and lion is estimated 6 million years ago, honey badger and wolverine over 20 million. It seems very unlikely.

[John Cuthber]

"could-a-wolverine-and-a-honey-badger-produce-a-fertile-hybrid-offspring"

No

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organisms_by_chromosome_count

 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=B_07noCPc4kC&pg=RA4-PA119&lpg=RA4-PA119&dq=%22honey+badger%22+%22chromosome+number%22&source=bl&ots=u298OJ0adH&sig=ahvlBT0LNLmF5be_oLZAPugmHP0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirkMDcn6zJAhWB7xQKHeNHDSkQ6AEIIzAB#v=onepage&q=%22honey%20badger%22%20%22chromosome%20number%22&f=false

Edited November 25, 2015 by John Cuthber

[Moontanman]

"could-a-wolverine-and-a-honey-badger-produce-a-fertile-hybrid-offspring"

No

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organisms_by_chromosome_count

 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=B_07noCPc4kC&pg=RA4-PA119&lpg=RA4-PA119&dq=%22honey+badger%22+%22chromosome+number%22&source=bl&ots=u298OJ0adH&sig=ahvlBT0LNLmF5be_oLZAPugmHP0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirkMDcn6zJAhWB7xQKHeNHDSkQ6AEIIzAB#v=onepage&q=%22honey%20badger%22%20%22chromosome%20number%22&f=false

 

 

While I agree that such a cross is very unlikely I'm not sure what the links you provided are meant to show....

[John Cuthber]

They have different chromosome numbers a viable cross is practically impossible.

[Moontanman]

They have different chromosome numbers a viable cross is practically impossible.

 

Horses and donkey's have wildly different chromosomes and they have young....

[CharonY]

They have different chromosome numbers a viable cross is practically impossible.

 

Well it is not entirely impossible but there are caveats. It is true that offspring from even closely related animals with different chromosome counts are normally sterile. An example would be mules that have 63 chromosomes. However, there have been reports of successful breeding between female mules and male donkeys. It is not common, though.

 

A better example are probably fish, as hybridization is easier (and probably also more common in nature). One example that I recall is a cross of a carp and a bream which have 100 and 48 chromosomes, respectively. A tetraploid offspring with 148 chromosomes was fertile, IIRC.

 

I should add that hybridization could be considered a bit of a special case.

Edited November 26, 2015 by CharonY

[DevilSolution]

Aww, i thought this was regarding x-men.

 

The split between tiger and lion is estimated 6 million years ago, honey badger and wolverine over 20 million. It seems very unlikely.

 

That statement could be totally void, the time variable of a species splitting from each other and how much they diverge aren't correlative. Some species have needed not to evolve at all in a very long time and some of their closest variations wouldn't have either. Unlike certain species that are forced to evolve because of environmental factors.

 

I don't know the exact genetics on chromosome matching and embryonic development but its likely possible that they could have offspring, however it may take n^x amount of tries (say 10^6 and that's getting them to do business which wouldn't be easy). Its also possible that they have diverged too far an thus it is impossible, in such a case you'd probably only have to slightly modify the DNA of the sperm to get the desired results.

[CharonY]

Are you speculating wildly or do you have anything to back it up?

[DevilSolution]

Are you speculating wildly or do you have anything to back it up?

 

Pardon?

 

My answer was a pretty much catch all, either through probability they can have offspring otherwise if they have diverged too far then by splicing the sperm you would be able to achieve this. Thats science as i know it.

 

Or are you referring to time and correlation between differences in genes because i can certainly back it up.

[CharonY]

All claims, if possible. To list them up: A) that there is no correlation between genetic divergence and divergence time. Keep in mind how divergence is estimated. B) that species that need not evolve do not. Also specify what you mean with "need not". C) how are species forced to evolve? D) what specifically do you mean with chromosome matching? E) what is the basis of your calculations? F) What specifically do you want to modify in sperm? G) What do you think would it accomplish? H) Why specifically sperm an not e.g. the oocyte? I) How would it be accomplished? J) What do you mean with "splicing" sperm?

 

There a a few good reasons why time alone is not a perfect estimator, and that it is certainly not universal in all groups. But your claims do not address these issues as far as I can tell. I would therefore be very interested in the specifics, as it is not quite clear to me what you mean.

[Capsule Corp.]

Well a resulting female hybrid that's fertile is the objective. I suppose artificial insemination would have to be the only option. If female hybrid is fertile, she could be bred back with a different honey badger/wolverine in order to have a 75% Honey Badger, 25% Wolverine hybrid or 75% Wolverine 25% Honey Badger hybrid.

 

I'm just going by how Leopons are fertile and how a female Liger can be mated with a male Lion/Tiger to have a fertile offspring.

[CharonY]

Yes, but they are also much more closely related than wolverine and badgers.

[Moontanman]

Wolverine and badger hybrids... writing a horror story?

[Capsule Corp.]

I suppose a Marten-Wolverine hybrid would be more viable then? And fertile?

[John Cuthber]

I suppose a Marten-Wolverine hybrid would be more viable then? And fertile?

Why do you think that?

There's an even bigger difference in chromosome numbers for a start.

[Capsule Corp.]

Because of this:

 

Edited November 27, 2015 by Capsule Corp.

[Capsule Corp.]

The image wasn't showing earlier. I fixed the link now. It's showing, right?

[John Cuthber]

The image wasn't showing earlier. I fixed the link now. It's showing, right?

No.

[Capsule Corp.]

[CharonY]

OK, so to make it clear, the question cannot be unequivocally answered without actually trying it out. The reason is that small changes can create incompatibility. However, as a rule of thumb, the further species are apart, the lower the likelihood. Chromosome variances are more complicated in certain groups (in mammals it is usually a big problem), whereas in others it is less so.

So without actually having any data, one could assume that the likelihood for martens and wolverines would be higher than either with badgers. Yet time wise their split is still longer than e.g. horse and donkey, who already typically have fertility issues.

[Capsule Corp.]

Oh my, so they're even far less likely to have fertile offspring than Leopons.

 

Would it be unethical to actually capture and artificially inseminate a Honey Badger/Wolverine? They're not endangered and scientists do it to mice all the time.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Capsule Corp.