Sheep-goat hybrid born under natural conditions.

The paper reports a 5 year old male sheep-goat interspecific hybrid born under natural conditions. The hybrid was castrated at 10 months of age. Karyotype analysis confirmed that the animal was a male and a hybrid with 57 chromosomes, an intermediate number between sheep (2n=54) and goat (2n=60). Morphological characteristics of the animal were compared with those of castrated male Tswana goats of the same age. Data on castrated male Tswana sheep of the same age are not available. The hybrid at 5 years of age weighed 93kg compared to 53.73+/-13.83kg, the average weight of castrated Tswana male goats of the same age. The paper also raises a question of whether the animal could be of commercial interest in meat production in Botswana.