Sheep-Goat Hybrid Born: ‘Geep’ Is Rare And Absolutely Adorable
A sheep-goat hybrid known as a “geep” is stealing hearts at My Petting Zoo in North Scottsdale, Arizona.
The baby ball of fluff is named Butterfly, and she’s lucky to be alive — according to Buzzfeed, sheep-goat hybrids are usually stillborn. Goats and sheep have a hard time making babies together because they have different amounts of chromosomes and are from different genera. However, when they do succeed in mating, the result is pretty adorable.
The female sheep-goat hybrid’s mother could be featured on an upcoming episode of I Didn’t Know My Pet was Pregnant (this sounds like it could be a new TLC series, right?). According to AZ Central, My Petting Zoo owner Priscilla Motola didn’t know that Momma the sheep was knocked up because there are no male sheep in the petting zoo. However, there is a male pygmy goat named Michael, and apparently, he didn’t care that he and Momma the sheep are genetically different.
The result of their little love affair was Butterfly, a geep with the head and feet of a goat and a wooly coat like a sheep. Motola explained how the sheep-goat hybrid’s coat inspired her cute moniker:
“I have three boys, and they were actually the ones who discovered that she was born. The youngest one, my four-year-old, saw it and said, ‘She looks just like a butterfly,’ because she has so many colors.”
The sheep-goat hybrid is a friendly critter that enjoys sucking on fingers and frolicking in her pen. She also likes hanging out with her next-door neighbor, a white horse whose head is as big as her entire body. Butterfly’s unique look has already made her an internet celebrity, and she’s gotten a few visits from local news crews. There’s no doubt that she’ll be the star attraction at My Petting Zoo for years to come.
Because sheep-goat hybrids are so rare, Butterfly is going to have a hard time finding more of her kind to hang out with. However, there actually was another sheep-goat hybrid born in Ireland back in April.
The geep babies also aren’t the only animal hybrids to win the hearts of internet users this year. As The Inquisitr previously reported, an equally-adorable “zonkey” named Khumba was born in Mexico back in April. A zonkey is the offspring of a donkey and a zebra, and they’re also pretty rare. However, this one was really special because her father was a blue-eyed albino donkey. Other animal hybrids include ligers (the offspring of a lion and tiger), and beefalo (the offspring of an American bison and a domestic cow).
So is the sheep-goat hybrid your new favorite animal hybrid now that you’ve seen Butterfly the geep?
