While Thanksgiving is on a Thursday and some places are closed for Black Friday, some people are lucky enough to have four-day weekends. Neither the Green or Ramos families had to be back in Dinosaur City until Monday so they could spend a few extra days in Lyre to catch up with old friends. Though a good amount of time was spent with Polly and her family.
Polly was certainly happy to hand out with her brother and his extended family. It used to be that she had to crane her head up a bit to talk to them. Now she was easily at eye level with them and she was enjoying being treated as an adult by them. One of their quality times was spend at the Brumation House which was opening for business as winter's first chill was coming in. Dinotopians aren't really cold-blooded, but the freezing wind did not feel good on their scales. So Polly didn't mind them going somewhere warm.
"You sure you're not feeling too hot?" asked Jeremy.
"Jeremy, just because I'm a snow bear doesn't mean I'm going to melt in here," said Polly.
"You mean polar bear," said Jeremy.
"Yeah, but I can use synonyms if I want," said Polly.
"She's definitely a teenager now," said Heather dryly.
"So, I heard you guys helped out with uplifting those big sheep," said Polly.
"Mostly just corralling them," said Heather, "They're a fair bit more ornery than sheep I've dealt with before."
"Well, the Marco Polo sheep isn't a domesticated breed, it's wild," said Rex.
"And being bred with bighorn sheep probably didn't help," said Polly.
"Bred with what now?" asked Tyra.
"You know, the hybrid report I did on Animalia Ambassadoria," said Polly.
Rex frowned and said, "I don't think these were hybrids. They were smuggled into Texas while heavily sedated."
"No, the guy doing the smuggling was from Montana and he certainly wasn't using sedating," said Polly, "Wait, how many sheep did you help with?"
"Just a breeding pair," said Jeremy.
"Hmm...my sources told me that there were two breeding pairs coming," said Polly, "I wonder why they didn't ask for your help with corralling those?"
"Perhaps the hybrids are more accustomed to humans and are more easily led by them," said Jeremy.
"How'd these sheep get hybridized again?" asked Tyra.
"Didn't you watch my report?" asked Polly.
"I might have spaced out on some of the details," said Tyra. The others glared at her. "Hey, my husband and grandson-in-law are both scientists. Is it any surprise that I developed a filter for extensive science talk?"
"She does have a bit of a point," said Heather, "You guys tend to talk shop extensively."
"It's not that much," said Jeremy, affronted.
"It kinda is," admitted Polly.
"Ok, so can you tell me how they got hybridized now?" asked Tyra.
"Well, like I said, the smuggler didn't need to sedate sheep. He was only smuggling in parts so he can clone one," said Polly.
"Which parts?" asked Tyra.
Polly hesitated a moment before Heather told her, "It's ok. You're not gonna shock her."
Polly shrugged and said, "He smuggled in testicles."
Tyra's eyeridges rose and she said, "Now how did they get that past the TSA?"
"No idea," said Polly, "But once he managed to clone a Marco Polo sheep, he started breeding it with bighorn sheep."
"That would produce some pretty big sheep with pretty big horns," said Heather.
"And what was the purpose of this science project?" asked Tyra.
"To breed bigger sheep for hunting reserves," said Polly.
"I can think of a few problems with that beyond the ethical ones," said Rex, "If those hybrid sheep ever escaped those reserves, they could cause a lot of genetic damage to the wild sheep population."
"Would they? I thought hybrid animals are sterile," said Tyra.
"You're thinking of animals who have a chromosome number difference like horses and donkeys," said Jeremy, "These species of wild sheep are as closely related to each other as wolves, coyotes, and dogs are to each other. The real problem would be that spreading the Marco Polo genes among wild sheep populations could lead to an imbalance in the ecosystem."
"Though that's not likely to happen," said Polly, "The hybrid sheep are all accounted for and are being sold off to locations where they won't be hunted or set loose. And Horizon Labs got two pairs."
"Well, if the mules are any indications, they'll adjust fine around here," said Heather.