Posted on 04/25/2014 4:54:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Biologists had originally thought zebra and donkey chromosomes to be incompatible.
A rare but adorable cross-breed was introduced to the world this week at a zoo in Reynosa, Mexico.
Khumba is the lovechild of Rayas, a female zebra, and Ignacio, a blue-eyed albino donkey. That makes Khumba a zonkey, one of only a few in the world.
Though there are now living specimens of zonkeys at zoos in the U.S., Japan, China and elsewhere, biologists had originally thought zebra and donkey chromosomes were incompatible.
But apparent genetic incongruity didn't stop Rayas and Ignacio from trying. According to WTVY, the two visited each other almost every afternoon. Finally, a several months ago, Rayas became pregnant.
If Ippo, a zonkey born last year in Florence, Italy, is any indication, Khuma and the Reynosa Zoo can expect an influx of visitors in the coming months.
If I had a farm I would want one too. Adorable!!!!!
Viva la zonkey!
“Honkey”
LOL!
Doh! Now how did that one get in there?
(LOL!)
Thanks!
Interesting critter.
This is why I regard evolution and so-called AGW as being based on scientific-sounding conjecture. In other words, scientific facts are proven by the predictable results of repeatable, scientific method-based experiments instead of how well fast-talking activists are able to sell a "jury," that's people like you and me, on how to interpret inconclusive, incomplete evidence.
In this example it took a zebra and a donkey to "design" the right "experiment."
I don’t know how rare they are, I have a neighbor with 3 or 4 of them.
They are rare only because there is no commercial demand for them. I see some for sale every year or so. Just an oddity, too close to the wild to train with any degree of safety.
A donkey/ ass with bi-racial stripes. Seems we’ve seen another one of those , at least since 2008
In the 1800’s the Boers crossbred zebras & horses in an attempt to obtain the immunity of the one with the stamina of the other. Zebras could be broken to harness & mixed teams were tried, but finally it was the mule that succeeded as draft animal, as has been the case for millenia.
Yes, it’s a Badonk Zebrama.
I knew a guy who bred a bulldog with a shi-tzu. You can guess what he got.
A genuine genetic freak of nature. Ha. (My theory Is that they don’t issue birth certificates on planet Ferengi, )
When younger I saw many zebra donkeys in Tijuana. Some working with young women.
He got a heck of a guard dog.
*cough*
Have they determined if zonkeys can produce offspring? Maybe none of them are old enough yet for mating. Mules have been bred for thousands of years but are sterile.
The Zonkey is this year’s Cronut!
The said the males are infertile and the females are almost infertile.
“Are zebras known for domestic violence?”
They’re born wearing prison stripes. That’s got to be a bad sign.
What would happen if a male zebra mated with a female zonkey and she had offspring? Would their stripes be like their sire's, in-between a zebra's stripes and a zonkey's stripes, or would they have a checkerboard pattern?
A donkey/zonkey mating might produce offspring with stripes so faint they would be almost unnoticeable.
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