Donkeys and horses can cross to produce mules, so can cattle and buffalo cross, and what are the similarities and differences between them?
Everything in the world has its own way of survival, not all animals can cross and reproduce, and cattle and buffalo are one of the typical examples. As early as more than a decade ago, scientists began to study the possibility of successful hybridization between buffalo and buffalo, but after they experimented with cattle and buffalo, they found that the sperm and eggs of the two were obviously different and could not be combined at all, which meant that cattle and buffalo could not be hybridized.
Cattle and buffalo themselves belong to different species of creatures in the same family, and although they are both cattle, there are actually many differences. First of all, in terms of body size, the average length of buffalo is about 3 meters, while the length of cattle is about 2.5 meters, which is slightly inferior to that of buffalo, but cattle are more favored by farmers because of their faster growth rate, and farmers prefer to raise cattle when choosing between cattle and buffalo.
Of course, farmers like scalpers must not only grow faster this advantage, although the size of the cattle is smaller than the buffalo, but the meat quality of the cattle can be much better than the buffalo, the meat of the beef is delicious, is one of the most popular meats in the market, but although the buffalo is large and meaty, but not many people like to eat the meat of the buffalo. So farmers can sell their raised cattle for a good price, but buffalo can only help farmers to cultivate the fields, compared to the cattle are more popular.
There is also a difference between cattle and buffalo in the cost of breeding, although cattle and buffalo both feed on hay, but cattle need to absorb much less hay than buffalo, which means that if the buffalo need to spend more time and energy preparing food, and if it is in an area where forage is scarce, it is easier to raise cattle naturally.
The most common cattle and buffalo, the difference in appearance is not very large, what is the reason why it can not be crossed?
Buffalo is mainly distributed in the southern region, while the cattle are mainly distributed in the northern region, which is actually related to the physical constitution of the cattle and buffalo themselves. Buffalo, just like its name, will often rest in the river in the summer, and this is actually related to its lack of heat tolerance, the buffalo heat tolerance system is particularly bad, it can not fully dissipate the heat through its own ability, so in the hot summer, farmers need to often bring the buffalo to the river, using this way to let the heat in the buffalo body out, otherwise the buffalo is easy to appear because the body is too hot, and because of this, the buffalo is more inclined to the southern region where the temperature is suitable.
The cattle's own heat-resistant system is very good, can self-regulate body temperature, so there is no need to go to the river to rest from time to time, farmers are not so troublesome to breed, do not have to worry too much.
In addition, the biggest difference between cattle and buffalo is that the number of chromosomes in their bodies is not the same, according to the relevant experts on the study of chromosomes in cattle and buffalo, it is concluded that the number of chromosomes in cattle is about 60, while the number of buffalo chromosomes is only about 48. This innate difference is also the root cause of the inability of cattle and buffalo to cross, because the chromosomal gap is too large, resulting in the complete inability of sperm and egg cells to combine, so it is even more unlikely to give birth to new life.
Although cattle and buffalo are both bovines, their relationship is relatively distant, because the entire bovine family is very complex. Cattle such as cattle and yaks and tumor cattle can be hybridized because they have 60 chromosomes, but there is no way to reproduce normally between cattle and buffalo.
There is reproductive isolation between cattle and buffalo, what exactly does reproductive isolation mean, and why can donkeys and horses cross?
Reproductive isolation is actually an official statement that different species cannot mate to get offspring, that is, sperm and eggs between two species cannot be combined. And even if two different species do eventually cross successfully to produce offspring, that offspring does not have the ability to continue to reproduce.
Horses and donkeys are actually relatively closely related, and both belong to the genus Of Horses, but this does not mean that horses and donkeys can easily cross successfully. In fact, horses and donkeys are also difficult to mate successfully, but in nature, this cross-species hybridization still has a certain chance of completion and eventually giving birth to mules. However, the mules born after overcoming reproductive isolation still have to accept the fate of infertility. In addition, lions and tigers that cross and breed like tigers and lions are also infertile.
Cattle and buffalo, on the other hand, do not have the same chance of successful hybridization as horses and donkeys because their own kinship is so far apart that the number of chromosomes is so different that they are unable to combine to produce useful fertilized eggs. It should be known that the process of life reproduction is very complicated, although there is a slight possibility of hybridization, but because of various deviations, there is a very obvious reproductive isolation between buffalo and cattle, and naturally it is impossible to breed offspring.
If the cattle and buffalo are forcibly combined, this is a disregard for nature, knowing that if there is no reproductive isolation in nature, then the ecosystem will be chaotic. Therefore, even if human beings want to achieve cross-species hybridization through experiments, showing the progress of science and the power of technology, they also need to follow the laws and principles of nature.