Donkey and zebra flout zoo taboos to give birth to a baby zonkey The zonkey is a huge hit with visitors (Picture: AFP/Getty Images) Not much good news has come out of Crimea in recent months, so here’s some. A zonkey – a cross between a zebra and a donkey – has been born in the Black Sea peninsula. The foal, born last week to a very lonely zebra and a donkey who likes to try new things, has the brown head and body of his father while his legs have the characteristic black stripes of his mother. The zonkey’s mother had not had a mate in months and took a shine to a donkey after moving enclosures (Picture: AFP/Getty Images) While cross-breeding between the two species is not unheard of, it is rare and generally frowned upon in zoos. ‘Such things don’t happen in civilised zoos, but can occur at private zoos or on farms,’ said Anna Kachurovskaya, a zoo spokeswoman. Staff at the zoo have named the zonkey Telegraph, after a local paper, and say he is ‘very popular with visitors’. They explained that Telegraph’s mother had not mated in several months and was growing uncomfortable in her enclosure, so they moved her in with the other hooved animals – and she took a liking to the donkey. (Picture: AFP/Getty Images) source: metro. ~~~~~ I don't know why but there's a lot of cross breeding happening in the animal world. Quite cute combos though -sweat
The spokespeople and public relations people are best kept in zoos , the animals let out back in their natural habitat is my opinion.
Funny that you post this because I was reading about this earlier! I read that they are infertile though so the Zonkey can't reproduce. Not much photos of Zonkey's, I guess they don't have much of a life span due to the genetic makeup (chromosome?)
