14 DAY TRIAL // Veterinarians at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital are now running a series of tests in an attempt to determine where Bull, a labrador that is half black and half yellow, might be a chimera.
It might sound like a mythical creature of sorts, but the fact of the matter is a chimera is merely the end result of a rare genetic mutation. Plainly put, the term chimera is used to describe two animals rolled into one, DM explains.
Thus, specialists say a chimera is born when two twin developing fetuses merge while still in their mother's womb, the result being just one creature whose body parts come from two distinct animals and so pack different DNA.
Cells from one embryo form some organs, and cells from the second develop into other body parts, researchers further detail how chimeras form in the womb from merging twins.
The organs and body parts sport the DNA of the embryos from which they have evolved. This is why specialists refer to a chimera as two animals in one.
In Greek mythology, the chimera was a hybrid creature that had the front of a lion and the back of a goat. It also had a snake tail, and sported the mane of a lion despite being a female.
The reason specialists at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital think Bull might be a chimera is because half black and half yellow pups are not exactly a common sight. Hence, they think Bull might be in fact to dogs merged into one.