In ancient times, horses and donkeys were the most important means of transportation and transportation force in the vast land. I saw the rider urging the horse to hurry or leading the donkey, shuttling back and forth between the villages and towns.
A strong horse can run like a fly, but it cannot carry an excessively heavy load; And the donkey, although it is difficult to walk, can carry a heavy load of luggage. The horse is fast and the donkey is strong, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
So Uncle Li started the first batch of horse-donkey hybrid experiments. At first, there was little success, but after repeated exploration and summary, a feasible solution was finally found. That is to choose a female donkey to mate with a stallion.
In this way, the mule inherits both the speed of a horse and the endurance of a donkey, which is the perfect means of transportation for dreams.
This discovery was like a thunderbolt, and the mule of the horse-donkey hybrid soon changed the old form of transportation. Not only Li Village, but also nearby areas have followed suit, and replacing horses and donkeys with mules has become the new local fashion.
The village of Usa in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu is a beautiful ranch village. The villagers live a leisurely life living on cattle and sheep.
One of the most striking families in the village is the home of herder Rakash, who is different from the rest of the water buffalo.
From an early age, Lacash had a soft spot for animals, especially the intelligence and resourcefulness of cows.
This absurd idea kept Lacash at ease. He immediately gathered a few friends and discussed how to implement it. At first, they thought it was just a dream, but in the face of Lacash's enthusiasm, they decided to give him a chance.
The next morning, a few men came to the pasture, tied a sturdy cow under a tree, and brought a white bull grazing in the meadow, and then stood at a distance and waited for the miracle.
However, this hard-managed hybridization experiment ended in complete failure. The cow ignores the white horse next to her and grazes on her own. Hakuba is also not interested in the cattle under the tree.
Lakash was puzzled and went around the village with questions about why the cow and the stallion could not be successfully crossed. After a few days of running, I finally asked some doorways.
It turns out that the reproductive Xi of cows and stallions are quite different, which makes it difficult for the two to mate naturally even when placed together. Stallions only come into heat in spring and autumn, while cows can come into heat all year round.
In addition, the ovulation time of cows is extremely difficult to control, and it is difficult to find the exact time to conceive.
Even if the cow is lucky enough to be ovulating, the stallion is still not interested. Because they are very dependent on pheromone attraction and guidance for mating. The "signals" of the cow's pheromones are a foreign language that is difficult for the stallion to decipher, and it cannot generate the stallion's sexual drive as smoothly as the mare pheromone.
Breeding cattle experts point out that the cornerstone of successful crosses is "different species of the same genus" that are closely related. Horses and donkeys are both "equine genus", and the number of chromosomes is only one pair, and the hybrid mules can divide germ cells normally.
But there is a huge taxonomic gap between cows and stallions, with horses having 64 chromosomes and cattle having only 48, which is well beyond the natural range of crossbreeding.
This is an interspecific isolation mechanism established by nature through the same genus regulations, so as to avoid the confusion of species caused by genetic mixing. Rakash couldn't help but sigh that after all, human beings must fear the arrangement of the Mandate of Heaven and not try to break the laws of nature.
Perhaps the hybridization of a cow with a stallion will always be a dream.
After this failed hybrid experiment, Rakash realized that human beings are not the masters of nature after all, but the servants and beneficiaries of the laws of nature. It is a profound law of nature to restrict the exchange of genes between different species through reproductive isolation and to avoid species confusion.
We live in such ecosystems, and we should not be driven by desire to blindly break through the interspecific barriers and conduct hybridization experiments that may disrupt the order of species inheritance.
Lacash is determined to keep this incident in mind in the future, to be in awe of nature, to be cautious in seeking knowledge and asking for directions, and to be grateful for the gift of the earth for the rest of his life.
The progress of modern hybrid technology has broken through some natural reproductive isolation and created new hybrid life such as liger. However, Lacash also saw that experiments without mature core theories and technologies can easily cause serious genetic defects.
This shows that hybridization techniques also need to constrain the bottom line. We should follow the principle of controllable technology and minimal ecological damage to carry out research, so as to truly benefit mankind, rather than simply satisfying the desire for scientific research and exploration.
Only strict self-discipline can avoid catastrophic consequences.
In this experiment, Lacash tethered cattle and horses to achieve their goals, without considering the feelings of the animals. It was only later that Lacash realized that animals are also living beings with sentient and emotional feelings, not tools that humans use at will.
We must face up to animal rights and not experiment just to satisfy the desire for scientific exploration. This in itself is an ethical perverse act.