Editing 2653: Omnitaur

{{comic
| number    = 2653
| date      = August 1, 2022
| title     = Omnitaur
| image     = omnitaur.png
| titletext = "My parents were both omnitaurs, which is how I got interested in recombination," said the normal human.
}}

==Explanation==

Omnitaur is an {{w|anagram}} of {{w|minotaur}}, a mythical creature that was part man, part bull. "{{wiktionary|Omni}}-" is a prefix that means "all" that is, for instance, known from the word {{w|omnivore}}, meaning 'all eating' as compared to {{w|carnivore}} or {{w|herbivore}} — only eating meat or plant respectively. Given the combination of animals used to create the omnitaur, it could be expected that it was also an omnivore. The "-taur" part often means "bull," but it also appears in "{{w|centaur}}" via Latin from Greek ''kentauros,'' the name for a Thessalonian tribe of expert horsemen, meaning a different mythical creature which has the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. So "-taur" could here be used to mean any creature made up of parts of different animals. An "omnitaur" would suggest that it would encompass all real and mythical creatures, or perhaps some random assortment of such. In this instance, it appears to be a hybrid, or {{w|Chimera (genetics)|genetic chimera}}, combined from eleven different creatures: {{w|fish}}, {{w|lion}}, {{w|snake}}, {{w|shark}}, {{w|bull}}, {{w|dragon}} (a mythical and often chimeric creature in its own right), {{w|horse}}, {{w|leopard}}, {{w|Sheep|ram}} (male sheep), {{w|human}} and {{w|bird}}. 

Chimerism is not as uncommon at the genetic level, for example humans have about 145 genes (out of around 30,000) originating from bacteria, other single-celled organisms, and viruses.[https://www.science.org/content/article/humans-may-harbor-more-100-genes-other-organisms] {{w|Mitochondria}}, the powerhouses of the cell, were originally chimeric bacteria {{w|symbiosis|symbionts}}. But chimeras of larger organisms are rare, usually involving fraternal twins whose {{w|zygote}}s, {{w|blastocyst}}s, or {{w|embryo}}s combined, as in {{w|conjoined twins}} but resulting in less distinct {{w|phenotype|phenotypical}} expression. Artificial human chimeras with viruses, mice, pigs, and monkeys have been the subject of ethics controversies in recent years.[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/11/the-five-chimeras-human-monkey-hybrid-genetic][https://jme.bmj.com/content/45/7/440.abstract] [https://journals.biologists.com/dev/article/148/12/dev195792/269139/The-road-to-generating-transplantable-organs-from Interspecies blastocyst complementation,] used to create human chimera organs and cell lines in other animals, is usually limited to combining two organisms into one whose offspring are not hybridized if they are even viable, and usually without human {{w|germline}}s or reproductive organs (or human central nervous systems, assuaging a major ethical concern.)

The title text is a comment by a human whose parents were both omnitaurs. It would be funny that such parents would not produce offspring that was still omnitaur. It suggests that this may be the result of {{w|genetic recombination}}, which is the exchange of genetic material between different organisms leading to production of offspring with combinations of traits that differ from those found in either parent. In this case, seemingly, they inherited ''only'' the human elements of each parent, yet sufficient to develop into a whole human with no missing or chimeric elements. Both omnitaur parents likely had human germlines and compatible reproductive organs. Since the example depicted seems to be only <sup>1</sup>/<sub>11</sub> human, the odds of two parents as mentioned in the title text having fully human offspring would simplistically appear to be (<sup>1</sup>/<sub>11</sub>)<sup>11</sup>, or one chance in 285 billion. In reality, each physical part could not be the result of an equal recombinant genetic contribution, because the eleven animal chromosomes vary widely in number and size. Moreover, chimeras composed of multiple animals do not have chimeric children, because even with multiple sets of reproductive organs, the germlines are not combined. 

===Chimeras in folklore===
In addition to the minotaur and centaur, many other potential inspirations can be found in mythology, like the {{w|manticore}}, with a body of a lion and human face; a {{w|griffin}}, with a lion's body and a eagle's head; a {{w|mermaid}}, with a lower body of a fish and upper body of a human; a {{w|Hippocampus (mythology)|hippocampus}}, with the upper body of a horse and a lower body of a fish; a {{w|qilin}}, with a body that resembles both a horse and a dragon; or the mythological {{w|chimera (mythology)|chimera}}, for which the genetic chimera is named, which has lion, snake, and goat body parts. Ultimately, there are {{w|List of hybrid creatures in folklore|lots of hybrid creatures in mythology}} with {{w|phenotype}}s combined from multiple animals. Usually, genetic hybridization produces much more smoothly blended phenotypes instead of dividing the body into large distinctly chimeric regions, although {{w|Mosaic (genetics)|mosaicism}} of fur, skin or {{w|Heterochromia iridum|eyes}} can produce notable differences of hue or shade.

In {{w|C. S. Lewis}}' {{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}, the {{w|Magical_creatures_in_The_Chronicles_of_Narnia#Centaurs|centaurs}} are described as eating two meals &mdash; a huge roast meal "to satisfy the man stomach," and a meal of grass, "to satisfy the horse stomach," making it take quite some time for them to eat every morning. Since the omnitaur also has herbivore and omnivore (as well as carnivore) parts, this could further support the supposition that it is an omnivore, and it may similarly need multiple stomachs for these multiple appetites. It is unclear how compatible the various diets of its components would be (not least because 'fish,' 'snake' and 'bird' are quite unspecific, and it's hard to know what a dragon would eat) but it would likely need several meals, taking even longer to eat than the centaur (plus the bird beak may slow the process down quite a bit.) In any case, a chimera of both warm and cold-blooded organisms seems unlikely to be viable,{{cn}} even at the organ level, let alone with combined surface phenotypes.

Dragons in Chinese folklore are often chimeras, [https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1125/the-dragon-in-ancient-china/ described for example] as having, "the head of a camel, the horns of a stag, the eyes of a demon, the ears of a cow, the neck of a snake, the belly of a clam, the scales of a carp, the claws of an eagle and the paws of a tiger." The Chimera monster in {{w|Dungeons and Dragons}} is a "vile combination of goat, lion, and dragon, and features the heads of all three,"[https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16823-chimera] with similar depictions being common across fantasy media. The Aztec god {{w|Quetzalcoatl}} ("the feathered serpent") inspired the {{w|Discworld}} god/demon Quezovercoatl ("the {{w|Boa (clothing accessory)|feathered boa}}") ...being an analogue and mish-mash of various South American cultural and wildlife totems and described more fully as "as half-man, half-chicken, half-jaguar, half-serpent, half-scorpion and half-mad (a total of three homicidal maniacs)" with the small disadvantage of manifesting as only six inches high and being stepped on.

While chimeras occur in fantasy fiction, they also occur in science fiction, for example as {{w|cyborg}}s.{{cn}} The famous ''{{w|The Restaurant at the End of the Universe}}'' sequel to Douglas Adams' ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', had a large fat meaty bovine dairy quadruped "with large watery eyes, small horns and what might almost have been an ingratiating smile on its lips." This "Ameglian Major Cow" seemingly had the mind and vocal tract of a human, so it could articulate how much it wanted to be eaten.

==Transcript==
:[A creature, the Omnitaur, is shown. It is a four legged animal divided into 11 segments, each segment is from a different animal. An arrow goes from a label to each section; most of the labels are above the animal, but four labels are below the animal. The animal has a fish tail and cat-like hind legs. The torso is divided into four segments, the first and last of these with scales, but only the last of these also with sharp scales at the top. The second torso segment is white and smooth, the third also white but with hair both above and below, those above merges with the sharp scales of the fourth torso segment. The front legs are horse-like, the lower neck is from an animal with dark spots, the upper neck has ram's horns, which goes over in the central part of a human head, with ears and hair (drawn like a real human, not like an xkcd stick figure) and finally the front of the face is a bird with its eyes and a beak shown. The labels are given here in the order of the segment of the animal from the back to the front (disregarding whether the label is written above or below the animal). The label "Shark" is below the animal's torso, the label "Horse" is below its front left leg, and the labels "Leopard" and "Ram" are below its neck.]
:Fish
:Lion
:Snake
:Shark
:Bull
:Dragon
:Horse
:Leopard
:Ram
:Human
:Bird

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The Omnitaur

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Portmanteau]]