| Sells-Floto & Buffalo Bill 1914 or 1915. |
Monday, June 09, 2008
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4 comments:
Are these half zebra and half donkey? They look like zebroid mules.
In layman's terms, "Zonkies".
These hybrids are from an experiment by the US Dept of Agriculture. The National zoo loaned the Dept a magnificent Grevy zebra stallion that had been a gift to Pres. Teddy Roosevelt by King Menelik of Abysinnia (now Ethiopia) in 1904.
They bred the Grevy to both the domestic ass and horse. The object was to develop an equine with the strength of the horse or ass but without the wildness of the zebra. Why? - - so they could get an equine that would resist the African tsetse fly which doesn’t bother the zebra but is deadly to domestic horses.
The hybrids did not work out as hoped. Several were given to the National zoo and others were sold to Sells Floto. There are a lot of photos of them on S-F.
All of the zonkeys I've seen in pictures were tiny things with stripes only on the legs.
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