Zebra or horse? A ‘zorse’, of course!

Creation Magazine ^ | David Catchpoole

[GodGunsGuts]

Examples of zebra-horse hybrids abound, but few are as stunningly eye-catching as ‘Eclyse’ pictured here.[1,2]

While most other zorses have stripes across their entire body, Eclyse looks like she’s had her face and rear flank painted by a very clever artist. But the markings are real, and she’s become a major attraction at a safari park in the German town of Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock.

Her mother, Eclipse, had spent a short time at a ranch in Italy, where she shared a paddock with other horses, as well as a zebra called Ulysses. On her return to Germany, Eclipse surprised her keepers by giving birth to the baby zorse. (The hybrid foal’s name is itself a hybrid of her parents’ names.)

And it’s not just Eclyse’s physical markings that reflect her ‘mixed’ parentage, but her temperament, too. ‘She is usually relatively tame like a horse,’ said a park spokesman, ‘but occasionally shows the fiery temperament of a zebra, leaping around like one.’

The numerous examples of horses, zebras and donkeys interbreeding with one another points to them all being descended from the same original ‘kind’ created on Day 6 of creation week (Genesis 1:24–25).[3] It also demonstrates that Noah needed far fewer animals than sceptics like to claim—he only needed two ‘horses’, i.e. one male and one female of the equine kind.4

And what might those two ancestors of today’s donkeys, horses and zebras have looked like? It seems probable that at least one of that Ark-borne pair must have had stripes, because while it’s now been documented that zebra offspring can progressively lose stripes (in just a few generations),[5] horse offspring apparently cannot gain stripes unless a striped equine is (re-)introduced into the population—as is beautifully demonstrated by Eclyse.[6]

[GodGunsGuts]

ping!

[mgc1122]

The question of “Who’s Yo Daddy?” is clearly answered here ...

[Tallguy]

... and the ship he rode in on!

[goat granny]

I thought most hybrids were sterile. Mule is off spring of horse and ass. I read someplace where mules were sterile. I wonder if this offspring could conceive. Maybe someone has an answer for me...

[JoeProBono]

[GodGunsGuts]

Hope this helps:

Reproduction—The donkey is more prepotent [high in its ability to transmit certain characteristics to its offspring] but less fertile than the horse. It has 50% to 60% conception rate, compared to the horse’s average of 60% to 65%. The conception rate for mares carrying mule foals is about same as for horse foals, but for jennets carrying hinny foals the rate drops to about 25%.

Compared to a gestation period of 11 months for the horse, the donkey’s gestation period averages 12 months, but may vary between 11 and 14 months. The gestation period for a hybrid foal is usually intermediate between the parent species. Production of twins, although rare, is more frequent among donkeys than among horses.

The mule is a sterile hybrid, yet occasionally a mare mule will be fertile. The difference between the numbers of chromosomes in the cells of the donkey (62 chromosomes; 31 pairs) and the horse (64 chromosomes; 32 pairs) results in a mule or hinny with 63 chromosomes. This odd number is responsible for mule’s sterility—the donkey and horse chromosomes are unable to form matched pairs during the early stages of conception, resulting in the death of the reproductive cells.

http://www.ruralheritage.com/mule_paddock/mule_compare.htm

[trisham]

“A horse is a horse, of course, of course”

[goat granny]

Thanks for the answer, but my brain trying to absorb all of that just went.....boing boing...Thanks anyway, I'll reread it a couple of times and it will sink in....:o)

[ItsForTheChildren]

Except when it’s really a zorse, of course.

[LADY J]

What a little cutie!!!

[Jaime2099]

Can’t you people see, this horse is evolving before our eyes. It’s a miracle of evolution! Astonishing! <——sarcasm

[Americanchild]

Most mules are sterile because donkeys and horses have a different number of chromosomes. However, there have been a few rare mules that have reproduced. I imagine it would be the same for Zorses.

[Daffynition]

On the Savanna, his cloaking device better not go on the blink again.

[Daffynition]

That's OK GG ...I don't understand it either. Science baffles me ... I think they are trying to make it seem like some sophisticated biological experiment ...I think it just a simple molting issue. ;-D

[goat granny]

LOL Hi Daffy, love your picture and think your right....

[decal]

“Zebra or horse? A ‘zorse’, of course!”

I suppose calling it a “hebra” would have been considered anti-Semitic.

And how close is this hybrid to the extinct quagga, which it resembles?

[Wacka]

A zebra’s stripes aren’t just hair. Their skin is striped too. The zebra branched off from a horse ancestor not too long ago, evolutionarily.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Daffynition]

I see... ;-D