Man Hybrid article

This was written for a task for the Leeds Savage Club where song lyrics were used as inspiration for a news article. This piece was inspired by 'Sea Song' by The Unthanks. Unfortunately my photo of this creature hasn't carried over to Blogger!

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New man-whale hybrid discovered off Brazil coast

by Hannah Bisson, Science Correspondent

- New species astounds scientists

SCIENTISTS have revealed that a bizarre new species has been found off Brazil’s Bahia coast, which is a cross between humans and sperm whales. The details of this discovery have been published in the January 2010 edition of New Scientist.

Researchers have spent the last 5 years tracking the development of this new species which they have called Homo macrocephalus. They were first informed of this anomaly when the wife of a fisherman, from Porto Seguro, contacted the Department of Fisheries and Food to seek advice on treating her husband's increasingly rubbery skin, which she believed was due to him spending too much time fishing without his protective clothing. Insiders admit that, initially her concerns were not taken seriously and despite her persistent claims that her husband's physical appearance was changing, it was only when she contacted them again a year later to speak to an expert in Cetology, that they decided to launch an investigation into her allegations.

The waters around the Bahia coast are renowned for spawning new varieties of marine flora and fauna but no-one ever imagined that such a species would emerge.

Whilst research is still being undertaken as to how H. macrocephalus has evolved, the most popular theory is that regular contact with the sperm whale, which has been domesticated in this region of the world, led to the transfer of rogue DNA which then metamorphosed the fisherman into the man-whale hybrid.

Genetic analysis has confirmed the creature is a hybrid of the two different species. H. macrocephalus has characteristics of both a human and a sperm whale. Human characteristics are a hand which serves as a dorsal fin, two legs and a human head. The sperm whale characteristics include the body , tail and ventral fin. Its measurement is 20.5 metres (67 foot) in length and it weighs 27,000 kilograms.

"It's exciting to think about two very different types of species conjoining their DNA in the waters around Brazil," says Dr Andy Foote from the University of Aberdeen, UK, who undertook the study. He confirmed this was an important discovery for the future of the animal kingdom.

The hybrid, known only as Mr X. is currently at large in the South Atlantic where he is attempting to avoid the public eye. His wife had no comment to make.