Chimera (mythology) (that does not occur with depictions of male lions). Sighting the Chimera was an omen of storms, shipwrecks, and natural disasters (particularly volcanoes). While there are different genealogies, in one version the Chimera mated with her brother Orthrus and was the mother of the Sphinx and the Nemean lion (others have Orthrus and their mother, Echidna, mating; most attribute all to Typhon and Echidna). The Chimera finally was defeated by Bellerophon with the help of Pegasus, at the command of King Iobates of Lycia, after terrorizing Lycia and nearby lands. Since Pegasus could fly, Bellerophon shot the Chimera from the
Sheep–goat chimera parts that grew from the sheep embryo were woolly. Those that grew from the goat embryo were hairy. In a chimera, each set of cells (germ line) keeps its own species' identity instead of being intermediate in type between the parental species. Because the chimera contains cells from two different genetic individuals, and each of these arose by normal mating, it has "four" parents. In contrast, a hybrid has only two parents. A sheepgoat chimera may be fertile, but it passes on either sheep or goat genes, depending on whether its reproductive organs were formed from the goat embryo or