Posted on 07/28/2010 12:44:10 PM PDT by Red Badger
The baby animal above is not a zebra. And it's not a donkey. It's a zedonk.
With a zebra father and a donkey mother, the animal has clear black and white stripes on its legs and the brown-haired body of a donkey.
The eye-catching filly was born last Wednesday night at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve in Dahlonega, Georgia, about 60 miles north of Atlanta.
"She's absolutely beautiful," said Alison Womack, a volunteer at the preserve, adding that the foal is "fabulous, healthy, doing well."
"We think we're going to name her Pippi, for Pippi Longstocking," said C.W. Wathen, the founder and general manager of the preserve. "That's what she looks like -- she's got socks on."
The young zedonk is already on display at the preserve, being held in a pasture with her mother until she's mature enough to join the other animals on the 20 acre property.
Her head may not look like a zebra’s, but Wathen said the young foal has the brain of an animal from the African savanna.
"She sits up, ready to go if anything happens. She's got that wild instinct," he said.
Though Wathen has let horses, zebras, and donkeys run together for decades, he said the birth was a complete surprise. It's the first zedonk born on the preserve and only the second he's seen in over 40 years of caring for exotic animals.
"When she had it, we noticed it had stripes, and we just couldn't believe it," Wathen said. "We thought after momma cleaned it, it would be different. But it never was."
He hopes that the unusual birth will bring more visitors to his non-profit zoo, a refuge for exotic animals abandoned by owners who don't know how to care for them.
Zebra-donkey crosses are rare but aren't unheard of. A foal named Alex, offspring of a Zebra mother and a donkey father, was born in Barbados in 2005.
I hope it doesn’t get eaten by a liger.
What a cutie.
or a tiglon...............
Cute.
Here ya go Bradley: This is a story you might find interesting.
But then you would have known about it if you paid attention in school.
All About MULES!
The Mule is a cross between a donkey stallion (called a jack) and a horse mare. Hinnies are just the opposite - a stallion horse crossed to a donkey jennet. For all purposes, hinnies and mules are classified and shown together under the general term Mule. A mule or hinny may be a male (horse mule or horse hinny) or a female (mare mule or mare hinny). Sometimes horse mules (the males) are called Johns, and the mares are called Mollies. Both male and female mules have all the correct “parts” but they are sterile and cannot reproduce. A VERY few (about 1 in 1 million) mare mules have had foals, but these are VERY, very rare. No male mule has ever sired a foal. SO if you cross a mule to a mule - you get nothing! Mules and hinnies must be bred by crossing a donkey and horse every time. (Male mules should also be castrated, since they are sterile. They can become dangerous with too many hormones, so should always be castrated. You can’t show an intact male mule, anyway, and it is useless to keep them a stallion).
http://www.lovelongears.com/about_mules.html
I hope it doesn’t get eaten by a liger"It's known for it's skills in magic".
And here I thought it was a Zeobamkey. He’s a cute little guy.
I'm not saying anything. Your daughter might be able to interpret this story. ;^) EFG
Do you have a zorse for that claim?
Talk about Roman noses..!
Isn't that the place that thinks man co-existed with dinosaurs?
What did you think of that?
LOLOL It was inevitable that someone would say that. HA
Question “Who Mulested Whom?”
I think Matthew 7:6.
Has MY vote for post of the day...
Yeah.
And dinosaurs were on the Ark and the Earth is 6,000 years old.
This is why institutions exist.
I was expecting to see a picture of Obama. He’s a zebra mixed with a donkey and he’s a total ass.
Tastes like chicken.
LOL!
Does that source contain the relative historic frequency of earthquakes?
I’ve been looking for something like that.
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