Genetic Engineering

What if we could?

For those who don't know, genetic engineering or genetic modification as it is also known, is the direct manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. The particular genetic engineering that we are going to focus on is that of animals.

For centuries, humans have long entertained themselves with folk tales of Mermaids which were half human and half fish or about unicorns with wings, but what if you could actually do that? (Although hopefully we wouldn't create the unfortunate animal pictured to the left)

The most common use of genetic modification known is something called selective breeding (such as that used for dogs when they have desirable traits). But if you wanted to create an animal totally new you would have to manipulate there genes, because I mean come on, as much as you try your never gonna get a Shark and a seagull at it are you?

Of Course we can create a hybrid!

But how would it survive the hybridisation? Well, again with my crappy theories, I have a brainwave as to how you could deal with that problem.

So,

The process of genetic engineering with anything go like this; Isolating the desired gene, constructing it with another, targeting the gene, transforming the gene, selecting and rejecting (as when you mix two genes together it could also create undesirable traits that you would need to get rid of), regeneration (so as to create a whole animal) and then of course confirmation that you have created an animal that functions as you would of hoped.

This is a long process and not all genes are going to survive it. And of course as you're practically breaking the law's of nature, the animal that you have created will most likely die from the process of the hybridisation or the hybridisation itself (if they survived it) would either shorten it's life span considerably or disable it.

Well how would we create a hybrid if it won't survive the process of hybridisation?

This is where my theory comes's in. The Chiroptera (the Greek name for Bat),  is the most resilient creature known in the animal kingdom. And you'll be surprised to know its an mammal as well. It can carry thousands of diseases such as HIV, rabies (which is a terribly awful disease) and anything else you can think of without actually ever being infected with it.

This would make it a perfect candidate for genetic engineering as the genetic coding of the Bat and of course it's immune system would allow it to mature without rejecting it's various added parts.


This is purely an expression of scientific interest only as any further action would be unethical and extremely cruel on the animals involved. (I mean imagine waking up and you've been mixed with like a snail. How fucking disappointing would that be?)