What Does Hybrid Mean?

A hybrid is the intentional combination of two or more different things, such as vehicles or genetically dissimilar plants or animals. The combination fulfills a particular goal and may offer advantages over non-hybrids.

Benefits

Hybrids increase variety and provide previously non-existent options. Specific advantages can be associated with hybrids, such as the increased disease resistance and better growth of hybrid plants.

Animals

Increasingly, dogs are specifically bred from two different breeds and considered "designer dogs" rather than mutts. Male donkeys and female horses are bred to produce mules, which tend to be larger and stronger than their parents.

Vehicles

People have developed vehicles as hybrids to combine an internal combustion engine with an electric motor.

Language

Creating words from two different languages also is considered hybridization. For instance, the word monolingual has a Greek prefix, "mono," and a Latin root, "lingual."

Controversy

Hybrid creations can cause controversy. As noted by National Geographic, Shanghai Second Medical University scientists in 2003 successfully combined human cells with rabbit eggs to form human-animal embryos, leading critics to call for stricter regulations.

References

• Hybrid Cars
• History of Hybrid Crops
• Designer Dogs

Resources

• Animal-Human Hybrids
• British Mule Society