• Question: can any animal type of sperm reproduce with human. what would the result be. can it kill you. do your best

    Asked by opolotjwh to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips, Sarah on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Rhys Phillips

      Rhys Phillips answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      No – many different species cannot breed with each other. Some animals can cross breed which has resulted in a slightly different animal – for example a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey.

    • Photo: Helen Fletcher

      Helen Fletcher answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Yuck!!!! In a test tube you could merge any gene from one organism into another organism. So at the gene level, yes, we could mix genes from any animal with ours. But really, opolotjwh, would you want to?????

    • Photo: Ian van der Linde

      Ian van der Linde answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Not naturally, no, as our genomes are very different to other animals. But yes, it would be done in a lab, but it would be considered unethical!!

Comments