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Butterfly Is A 'Geep': Half Goat, Half Sheep
By , myfoxphoenix.com
Published December 27, 2016
A Scottsdale petting zoo got an unexpected surprise -- one of their ewes gave birth to a "geep."
If you haven't heard of one, you're not alone. They're a half-sheep, half-goat hybrid and extremely rare.
At four days old, the animal was named Butterfly. Her mother, "Momma", is a sheep. Her dad "Michael" is a goat.
"We were just amazed we couldn't believe what we were looking at," said Priscilla Motola.
Motola owns a petting zoo in North Scottsdale. Her sheep, goats, and pigs share the same pens.
At first, Priscilla wasn't sure if Butterfly was a goat or a sheep. Butterfly's hooves and head look like a goat, but her coat is wool like a sheep. Priscilla had to go online to find out what Butterfly was.
"First we noticed the wool, and then we thought "oh she's a sheep", but then we noticed the feet like a goat, and the little face looked like a goat," said Motola.
She had no idea that "Momma" was pregnant until she came out Sunday and found Butterfly.
"We had no idea they were involved," she said.
Sheep had 54 chromosomes, goats have 60, most geeps come out still born, but not Butterfly.
"We're all just in shock," said Motola.
And Butterfly's fur felt super soft -- kind of like a blanket.
Priscilla says she's going to keep her and try to learn as much about geeps as possible.
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