Humans seem to have an unshakable fascination with playing god. Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, already make up a huge part of our diet, from what we know today as corn to three-quarters of Hawaii's papaya export. But did you know that animals can also be classified as genetically modified organisms? And there are more than just a few of them.
Some have been created in the interest of reducing pollution caused by the agriculture industry, others to create "super animals" that produce more of their valuable resources than their natural counterparts. In other cases, chimeras and hybrids are created in labs in the hopes of finding new ways to grow organs and other body parts for the medical field. And then there are the more 'natural' cases, of hybrid animals that are bred in captivity for morally ambiguous reasons, or the rare hybrids that occur in the wild.
Regardless of where you stand on these issues, the stories of the world's less-than-natural creatures are fascinating. Read on to learn more.