I have never understood genetics, especially inter-species breeding . . .
What do you get when you cross a rabbit with a chicken?
This article in NEWSWEEK about transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is amazing.
“experiences—everything from a lab animal being exposed to a toxic chemical to a person smoking, being malnourished in childhood, or overeating—leaves an imprint on eggs or sperm, an imprint so tenacious that it affects not only those individuals’ children but their grandchildren as well.”
It also makes these notes about how the life experiences of a grandfather are re-visited upon the grandson:
“The ghosts of our ancestors haunt our very genes. . .
If a father began smoking before the age of 11, found Marcus Pembrey of the Institute of Child Health in London, his sons had a greater body-mass index, on average, than did sons of men who took up smoking as adults.
In this same population, if a man suffered food shortages as an 8- to 12-year-old child, his sons’ sons were more likely to die young; if a woman suffered food shortages as a child, her son’s daughters were.”
Imagine the ramifications of this . . . .
