Freaks of evolution

 

Credit: Marsyas

"Mammalian Hybrids" is an on-line work by Eugene M McCarthy, a maverick American scientist. It´s available at his website "Macroevolution.net". Some of the material seems to consist of draft chapters for McCarthty´s book "Telenothians", which I haven´t seen. 

When McCarthy was still a conventional scientist, he compiled a scientific reference work titled "Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World" (reviewed by me elsewhere on this blog). "Mammalian Hybrids" is decidedly less conventional, and often comes across as a work of cryptozoology or even mythology. This is in keeping with McCarthy´s turn towards more alternative vistas, including a notorious theory that humans are descended from chimp-pig hybrids (!). Indeed, all species are the products of hybridogenesis, rather than standard Neo-Darwinist natural selection working on random mutations. But if so, there should be a lot of transitional forms between different groups observable today, transitional forms that really are "half a cow" (to quote creationist Duane Gish). This explains McCarthy´s interest in hybrids, including unconfirmed and fantastic reports about virtual "freaks of nature". If the existence of such crosses could be proved, his radical hybridogenesis theory would be strengthened. 

"Mammalian Hybrids" thus discusses putative human-pig hybrids, the famed cynocephali, crosses between humans and sheep or goats, snake-men, and other bizarre creatures virtually all scientists would reject out of hand. The sources include works of ancient authors, newspaper clippings from the 19th century, YouTube videos with a strong yuck factor, but also occasional reports from 18th and 19th century scientists. McCarthy´s labors remind me of Charles Hoy Fort! 

More "conventional" hybrids have also been included (such as ligers, coywolves or mules) and so have crosses which are believed to be biologically impossible, but which probably won´t create much controversy among ordinary people in the street. Let´s be honest, nobody except geneticists get worked up about (perhaps fake) claims that chicken and pigeons can crossbreed, to take just one such example. Everything involving humans, on the other hand...!

I don´t deny that "Mammalian Hybrids" does contain interesting content. Did you know that male orangutans occasionally rape human females? Or that female orangs are exploited as prostitutes in Indonesia? McCarthy wonders whether the famous quagga could have been a hybrid (it certainly looks like one), or whether the Bili ape could be the legendary Koolakamba, a supposed cross between chimps and gorillas. Some information on birds have been included, too, including a discussion of some peculiar species described by Audobon (him again!) but never seen since. Was the Labrador Duck actually a hybrid eider? Readers of "Macroevolution.net" are apparently very interested in the dox, a supposed cross between dog and fox. 

That being said, I nevertheless consider this something of a fringe work, so with the exception of relatively close crosses, I don´t expect to see "half a cow" anytime soon. In general, I think Eugene McCarthy himself is something of a hybrid, an intellectual hybrid between Copernicus and Velikovsky, perhaps? Or Stephen Jay Gould and Charles Hoy Fort...