When a zebra and a donkey fall in love, what happens next? Normally, not much, but on extremely rare occasions, the romance may result in the birth of an unusual hybrid animal known as a “zonkey.”
This is exactly what happened recently in a Kenyan national park, when employees discovered a strange intruder. He has few stripes, unlike zebra foals, and when conservationists examined him more closely, they discovered that the reason for this was because his wonderful father was a donkey, not a zebra!
The scientists determined that the tiny zonkey was conceived when her mother walked out of the Tsavo East National Park and into a village bordering the park, based on how long zebras generally stay pregnant. She settled quite quickly and became an honorary member of a local woman’s cow herd.
She had evidently become acquainted with an amorous donkey during her time in the community. The zonkey is a stunning species that combines the robust bulk of its donkey sire with the striped legs of its zebra mother. Because zonkeys are mules, he will not be able to effectively breed once he reaches adulthood, despite the fact that he should otherwise enjoy a normal life.
