MEXICO CITY – Look what's been born at a zoo in Mexico: a rare cross between a zebra and a donkey.
Some dub it a "zonkey." But it's also been called a "zebroid," a "zebrass" and "zedonk."
The critter's name is Khumba, and its father is an albino dwarf donkey named Ignacio that frequently visited the pen of the zebra at the zoo in Reynosa. After Ignacio's dalliances with Rayas, a zebra, along came Khumba, who made a debut on the zoo's Facebook page last week.
This combination is rare because although zebras are in the equine genus, their chromosomes are incompatible with donkeys.
But zonkeys exist in several countries, including China, the U.S., Japan, Germany and Italy, where a zonkey named Ippo was born last year.
Curiously, when zebras are mixed with other equine species, the striping does not always appear on the same body part. Khumba scored stripy legs.
McClatchy News Service
