Living RDSs: Ligers, Tigons, and Grolar Bears, oh my!

I recently came across an article about a 'mystery monkey' found in the jungles of Borneo (pictured below). A tour guide took a picture of this mysterious monkey which baffled biologists for nearly six years. Now they believe they know what it is.

This monkey turned out to be a biological hybrid: the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction [1]. This monkey was the product of a male Proboscis Monkey and a female Silvered Leaf Monkey mating, which created a whole new type of monkey!

Biological hybrids occur both in the wild and in captivity. Each hybrid that is produced is simply a living example of a conceptual pattern we use all the time--RDS (Relationship-Distinction-System). Take this new monkey, for example.

The relationship between a male Proboscis Monkey and a female Silvered Leaf Monkey is the mystery monkey! If you look even closer, you can see that the mystery monkey is made up of parts. It gets its longer nose from the Proboscis Monkey, some of its coloring from the Silvered Leaf Monkey, and its thicker tail is a combination of both! 

By understanding how RDSs work, you can use them descriptively (and retroactively) to understand systems and proactively (or prescriptively) to predict the structure of systems and generate new knowledge and innovations.

There are many more known biological hybrids, Let's take a look at some of them. 

Liger

Grolar Bear

Zorse

These examples go to show that animal hybrids are just one example out of many tangible RDSs out in the world. By understanding how RDSs work, you can use them descriptively (and retroactively) to understand systems and proactively (or prescriptively) to predict the structure of systems and generate new knowledge and innovations. Can you think of more?