The Freakiest Lab Animals

[fizzy stuff]

Green Ham and Eggs



Not since the 1980s have we seen this much fluorescence on one creature. Born in the lab of National Taiwan University, these phosphorescent porkers are green from the inside out—heart, ham and all. Scientists injected fluorescent proteins into the pigs at the embryonic stage, hoping that their very visible tissues could later help in the study of human disease.


Rats from Mice



Mice might become the incubators of the future. In a complicated experiment, researchers at Kyoto University in Japan planted stem cells that produce rat sperm into the testicles of mice, where they grew into viable sperm and were collected to fertilize rat eggs. Surrogate rat mums later bore healthy pups. The scientists hope mice may be used to grow sperm for all kinds of animals who, one supposes, are too lazy to do it themselves?

Wholphins



Shunning the lab and reportedly spotted doing their freaky thing out in the wild, whale-dolphin hybrids (get it? Wholphins?) are nevertheless extremely rare and prove that love, or mating at least, knows no species. The only confirmed wholphins in existence are a new mother and her baby—who has a "regular" dolphin daddy—residing in a sea park in Hawaii.

The Mouse with Three Ears



The mouse with a human ear growing on its back proved just how far science could, or would, go. The experiment saw a biodegradable, synthetic frame planted on the mouse; human cells were added to the frame and nourished by the mouse to produce, in effect, a real ear. With an ear-to-body ratio of about eighty percent, he's probably a very good listener.

Spider-Goat



A private biotechnology company in Canada has managed to breed goats whose milk contains spider silk, the same things the eight-legged insects use to make webs and considered one of the strongest fibers occurring in nature. The silk is compatible with the human body and can be used to repair tissues and create replacement ligaments. No word on whether the goats are able to climb buildings or rescue damsels-in-distress.

The Smartest Mouse on Earth



The poor mouse—always the, uh, guinea pig for the weirdest lab experiments out there. Scientists managed to implant a few of the little rodents with human brain cells amounting to about one percent of their total grey matter. The same group has plans to produce mice with one hundred percent human brain cells, which they have permission to do unless the mice start exhibiting human traits. What, like banding together to escape?

Humans in Sheep's Clothing



In 2005, researchers at the University of Nevada-Reno created a flock of sheep with bits and pieces of human organs growing inside of them. The animals were injected with stem cells at different stages of life and could be the forebearers of a kind of human organ factory, with animals bred to offer replacement livers, tissues and the like.

Swine and Man Become One



Well, at the smallest cellular level at least. In 2004, researchers looking to study viral infections injected human blood stem cells into pigs. The unexpected result was a veritable hybrid stew flowing through the piggies' veins: pig cells, human cells and some that combined bits of both developed in the blood.

What's in a Name?



Zonkeys and zeedonks and zorses, oh my! Belonging to the same equine family, it's possible to inmassageplanetreed any combination of horses, donkeys and zebras and some zoos have done so successfully, creating what looks like a donkey wearing crazy-striped socks. This has also been known to occur in the wild where the species live in close proximity, or when there is a shortage of mating partners within a species. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Humanzee



Ok, so this one doesn't actually exist. But it could have. A few years back, a couple of scientists critical of the proliferation of freaky lab experiments applied for a patent to crossbreed a human with a chimp. They were denied and would never have carried out the procedure, anyway. Too bad: the little mutant could have had an easy life in Hollywood.​

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Reference :
LiveScience.com: Freakiest Lab Animals
LiveScience.com - Researchers Breed Glowing Pigs
LiveScience.com - Rats Born to Mice in Bizarre Lab Work
LiveScience.com - Whale-Dolphin Hybrid Has Baby 'Wholphin'
LiveScience.com - Mice Born with Human Brain Cells
Partly Human Organs in a Flock of Smelly Sheep
LiveScience.com - Zonkey or Debra?