There’s a goat-sheep hybrid called a ‘geep.’

Baby goat-sheep hybrid
Credit: Irina Kozorog/Alamy

From labradoodles to ligers, the animal kingdom is rife with portmanteaus. While some are fairly common, others such as the “geep” — a goat-sheep hybrid — are exceedingly rare. DNA testing has confirmed that several purported geep are no more than odd-looking goats, but there are a few recorded cases of genuine living, breathing geep being born to goats and sheep living in captivity.

The main reason geep are so rare is due to genetic differences between goats and sheep. Goats have 60 chromosomes while sheep have 54, so if they mate, it often results in a stillborn birth. But some babies do survive, and those that have been confirmed to be geep typically have the body of a sheep and horned head of a goat, while also displaying a goat’s nimble mannerisms.