Biology:Macropod hybrid

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A hybrid (juvenile) of a red kangaroo and an eastern grey kangaroo, Rothschild Museum, Tring

Macropod hybrids are hybrids of animals within the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos and wallabies. Several macropod hybrids have been experimentally bred, including:

Male Female Result
Eastern wallaroo,
Osphranter robustus robustus
Red kangaroo,
O. rufus
Infertile female*
Swamp wallaby,
Wallabia bicolor
Red-necked wallaby,
M. rufogriseus
Sterile male
Agile wallaby,
M. agilis
Red-necked wallaby,
M. rufogriseus
Sterile male
Tammar wallaby,
M. eugenii
Black-striped wallaby,
M. dorsalis
Sterile male
Western grey kangaroo,
M. fuliginosus
Eastern grey kangaroo,
M. giganteus
Sterile male and fertile female
Red kangaroo,
O. rufus
Eastern grey kangaroo,
M. giganteus
Tammar wallaby,
M. eugenii
Parma wallaby,
M. parma
Tammar wallaby,
M. eugenii
Pademelon,
Thylogale species
  • * May have been so poorly fertile as to be considered sterile
  • † Although the males had testes, they did not produce sperm and some were found to have Y-chromosome abnormalities.
  • ‡ In-vitro fertilization used

Some hybrids between similar species have been achieved by housing males of one species and females of the other together to limit the choice of a mate. To create a "natural" macropod hybrid, young animals of one species have been transferred to the pouch of another so as to imprint into them the other species. In-vitro fertilization has also been used and the fertilized egg implanted into a female of either species.[1][unreliable source]

References

  • Poole, W. E. (1975). "Reproduction in the Two Species of Grey Kangaroos, Macropus giganteus Shaw and M. fuliginosus (Desmarest): II. Gestation, Parturition and Pouch Life.". Australian Journal of Zoology 23 (3): 333–353. doi:10.1071/ZO9750333. 
  • Smith, M. J.; Hayman, D. L.; Hope, R. M. (1979). "Observations on the chromosomes and reproductive systems of four macropodine interspecific hybrids". Australian Journal of Zoology 27 (6): 959–972. doi:10.1071/ZO9790959.