The "geep" was the first chimera made in the United States. The first of these composite animals was created in 1985 at UC Davis by fusing cells from goat and sheep embryos (goats and sheep cannot mate and reproduce naturally). Thus, a geep has physical characteristics of both species. The skeletal structure of the first geep's legs and skull were goatlike, but it had the general build of a sheep. Its coat was curly wool with scattered patches of short stiff hair.

The geeps have been very useful to researchers in providing insights into fundamental issues in developmental biology and pathology. It's also possible that the technique used to create geeps can be used to rescue some endangered species.

The geeps are not true genetic hybrids as other chimeras are; one female geep was mated with a male goat and gave birth to a genetically normal kid.


Some of the information in this writeup was gleaned from http://www.ag.fvsu.edu/html/publications/GoatCenter/goat1.htm. The rest was taken from the science dictionary at http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/; I oversaw the development of the dictionary (the website was mothballed in 1998) and I believe I wrote the entry this is based on.

Nickname for any of the 'GP' series of diesel-electric locomotives produced by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division, or EMD. The letters GP stood for General Purpose, and denoted the intended use of these locomotives; they had good bi-directional visibility like a switcher, but the power of a road locomotive. The Geep was the first road-switcher design, which would soon replace the cab unit style hitherto popular on American railroads. Almost every locomotive in use in North America today is a road switcher, also known as a hood unit.

The first Geep was the EMD GP7 model, first built in 1949 for the Chicago & North Western Railroad. Over 2700 GP7 models were produced.

GP models produced:

1949-1954: EMD GP7
1500hp 16-567B engine. More than 2700 produced.
1954-1959: EMD GP9
1750hp 16-567C engine. More than 4000 produced.
19??-19??: EMD GP30
1963-19??: EMD GP35
2500hp 16-567 engine. Almost 1300 produced.
19??-19??: EMD GP40
19??-19??: EMD GP50
19??-19??: EMD GP60
(to be continued)

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