New Species

A rare cross between a goat and a sheep was born in Turkey.

16:26 27 February 2017

A stockbreeder from Turkey could not believe his eyes when one of his goats gave birth to what appeared to be a rare cross between a goat and a sheep. Mustafa Uce, 24, from Turkey’s Hatay Province, said that he had previously seen baby goats with three and even six legs but never a “geep.”

 

Mr Uce said: "Baby goats never have horns when they are born while this one has quite big horns.

 

"The mother has rejected the three-day-old kid because it looks nothing like her other kids.

 

"We are having to feed it ourselves by hand. The vets say it won't live for long but for now it is surviving."

 

Meanwhile, vets say it is an extremely rare example of a successful cross-species mating between a sheep and a goat. They added that both sheep and goat DNA had come together in the embryo to create a mutant offspring.

 

Sheep-goat hybrids, although unusual, are not unheard of. However, they are very rare and most are stillborn.