Now playing: Watch this: Scientists create human-pig hybrid

Enlarge Image Salk Institute

Part pig. Part human. All real.

An international team of scientists created a human-pig hybrid in a research project that raises the prospect organs for transplantation might someday be grown, according to research published in the journal Cell.

The scientists created the hybrid by injecting human stem cells -- cells that can develop into any type of body tissue -- into pig embryos, a trial-and-error process, according to National Geographic.

The embryos were placed back into pigs and removed for analysis three to four weeks later. A total of 186 were collected, according to the research.

The team piggybacked on earlier experiments that created mouse-rat chimera. Chimera refers to mixed species organisms, and is derived from the name of a lion-goat-snake creature described in Greek mythology.

The research, led by scientists at the Salk Institute, will undoubtedly prove controversial and can't be funded by public money.

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