this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2026
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[–] tamal3@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Chimera! It's, um, two pre-cats that became one cat at some point in utero. Literally two different genetics fused into one special kitty.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

wait so its essentially like conjoined twins???

[–] Dremor@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Exactly. But entirely fused into one being. It happens in all species, including humans.

I may be one, but never bothered to test for. Could also be a slight vitiligo. Dunno.

[–] oce@jlai.lu 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Does that mean two different parts of your body could have two different DNA? I think there's some crime story about this.

[–] Dremor@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Basically, yes. But test is costly, and won't be of any help other than telling me "You're a Chimera, Harry".
Sure, Chimeras are more likely to get some diseases , like autoimmune one (because the immune system suddenly realizing your left kidney isn't exactly yours 😅), and depression (dunno why 😅).

So for now I'll just deal with my naturally multicolored body hair (dark brown, some very blond patches, and some ginger bits), and move on.
Now that I think about it... I'm a human calico 😆

[–] Hoimo@ani.social 6 points 2 days ago

There is one widely published instance of a woman almost losing custody of her two children after a court-ordered genetic test returned a mismatch. Had to be pretty confusing to hear that the guy is indeed the father, but... Objection! You are not the mother of these children!

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

sorta funny to think about. we already seem to be two distinct people with each side of the brain. this would kinda make it moreso.

[–] Natanox@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

At least two distinct processes. Since we don't know how consciousness emerges we can't tell if the brain stem is strictly required, so the split-brain phenomena you're probably referencing might only shows that we got two major regions for higher brain function but not two separate… "souls"?

I swear we gonna learn sooooo much about consciousness once we're able to artificially (and safely, temporarily) link two brains together.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 2 days ago

heck. I don't even think we have one soul.