User blog comment:Monk the Cat/An Idea I Had/@comment-5142578-20131017021925

I don't know. Some of it just doesn't set right with me. While I'm not against the idea of hybrids, I think there's a certain limit to it. I won't pretend I understand the whole Mobian reproductive process, but I would assume at least some things about it. For example:

"The cat's parents could be any variety of Hybrids, such as his mother being a wolf, while his father was a crocodile, yet he would still be a cat."

This idea just doesn't sit right with me. I mean, I can understand a cat being a decendant from a hedgecat hybrid (and thus having some hedgehog ancestry), but I would think that if a character was one species, then either one of or both of his/her parents would be that particular species. For example, if a character is a cat, then I would think at least one of his/her parents would also be a cat (with all other possible species characteristics being inert). I won't pretend I understand the whole Mobian reproductive process, but I would assume at least some things about it.

Plus, I personally don't see how hybrids can go beyond the class level. What I mean by that is this: I don't see how any animal could be a mammal/reptile or reptile/bird or mammal/insect hybrid. As far as I know, it would normally be mammal/mammal or reptile/reptile or bird/bird hybridization. I'm excluding the Griffin because that's a mythological creature. So, I don't quite know how a mammal/reptile hybrid would work out. And having a cat result from a crocodile and wolf just seems a bit.... farfetched to me. And I won't even ask whether or not mobian reptiles and birds lay eggs or give live birth. That alone is too much info, in my opinion.

Now, I understand what you're trying to say, but I would think that after one or two generations, a certain species trait would die out and become nonexistant. For example, say a cat's great-great grandfather was a hedgehog. And the hedgehog's spouse was a cat. The child they would have would likely be one of three things: a hedgehog, a cat, or a hedgecat. If it is a hedgecat, then it could pass on either gene for species (cat or hedgehog). However, the offspring of that hedgecat would likely only be a hedgecat IF the mate of the parent hedgecat is ALSO a hedgecat.

In fact, a thought just entered my mind: If a parent is a hybrid, then it's possible no offspring could result unless the mate of that hybrid is either a purebred of one of the hybrid's species, OR if the mate is a hybrid that shares one or both of the species.

Back to my original thought. Uh, let me see...... Oh, yeah. I would think that a species characteristic would die out after only one or two generations. So, say a hedgcat mated with a cat. I would think the result would be a cat because the hedgehog species gene would be covered and possibly rendered inert. And in the next generation, it would be lost completely if the mate of that offspring is not a hedgehog "purebred". The only exception to the rule that I can think of is if a genetic error occured where a character would become a tribred (pardon me if that's not the right word) where he/she has a parent that's a hybrid, and a parent that's a pure bred. However, I would think that would only work if the three species are close enough (such as a badger, mole, and echidna, since I think they're all burrowing mammals.)

I really hope what I'm saying makes sense to somebody. Otherwise, you have characters who are part everything, but only show one or two species.