In a message dated 5/25/2003 10:29:37 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> Correction: Mules are the sterile offspring of horses and donkeys. > (ass == donkey). Bob Z: Yeah you are right I always confuse donkeys asses and mules. Specifically, breeding a male donkey and a female > horse results in a mule, while the opposite apparently results in a > more horse-like "hinny". At least according to this site: > http://www.imh.org/imh/bw/mule.html > > To me, that last point is pretty interesting. I wonder what would cause > those differences between a mule and a hinny, when I would expect that > they would have pretty much equivalent DNA? Could the pregnancy > environment account for the difference? > > Bob Z; It is, if I remember correctly, a consequence of imprinting. In mammals the > parental source of genes can have a consequences. Typically one of the two allelles > from each parents is inactive in the child. So there is a difference depending on > which parent is a donkey and which is horse _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
