Sheep-goat hybrid born under natural conditions

The paper reports a 5 year old male sheep-goat interspecific hybrid born un der natural conditions. The hybrid was castrated at 10 months of age. Karyo type analysis confirmed that the animal was a male and a hybrid with 57 chr omosomes, an intermediate number between sheep (2n=54) and goat (2n=60). Mo rphological characteristics of the animal were compared with those of castr ated male Tswana Seats of the same age. Data on castrated male Tswana sheep of the same age are not available. The hybrid at 5 years of age weighed 93 kg compared to 53.73+/-13.83 kg, the average weight of castrated Tswana ma le goats of the same age. The paper also raises a question of whether the a nimal could be of commercial interest in meat production in Botswana. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.