CHIMERAS
Early research into the production of transgenic animals revealed a simple method for producing hybrids, called Chimeras, between closely related species. Sheep-goat chimeras were produced by mixing four celled sheep embryos with eight-celled goat embryos. After removing the zona pellucida from each egg, the eggs were pressed together and incubated at 370C. The cells reorganized and formed hybrid blastocysts. These hybrid blastocysts were then transferred to sheep foster mothers, where they continued their growth and development until the sheep gave birth. Each hybrid offspring contained both sheep and goat cells in all it’s tissues which resulted in the coats of these animal having a patchwork kind of pattern with irregular patches of sheep and goat fur.