VIDEO: Meet the Zonkey – a Zebra-Donkey Hybrid

Baby donkeys are adorable!

So are baby zebras!

Actually, any baby animal is cute, but this video shows one that you’ve probably never seen before.

A zonkey is an adorable creature – the offspring of a zebra and a donkey!

According to Wikipedia, zebroid is the term generally used for all zebra hybrids. The different hybrids are generally named using a portmanteau of the sire’s name and the dam’s name.

There is generally no distinction made as to which zebra species is used. Many times when zebras are crossbred, they develop some form of dwarfism. Breeding of different branches of the equine family, which does not occur in the wild, generally results in infertile offspring. The combination of sire and dam also affects the offspring phenotype.

A cross between a zebra and a donkey is known by many terms including the following: zonkey, zebonkey, zebronkey, zebrinny, zebrula, zebrass, zedonk, and zebadonk. Donkeys are closely related to zebras and both animals belong to the horse family. These zebra donkey hybrids are very rare.

In South Africa, they occur where zebras and donkeys are found in proximity to each other. Like mules, however, they are generally genetically unable to breed, due to an odd number of chromosomes disrupting meiosis.

Zebroids physically resemble their nonzebra parent, but are striped like a zebra. The stripes generally do not cover the whole body, and might be confined to the legs or spread onto parts of the body or neck. If the nonzebra parent was patterned, this pattern might be passed down to the zebroid, in which case the stripes are usually confined to nonwhite areas.

The alternative name “golden zebra” relates to the interaction of zebra striping and a horse’s bay or chestnut colour to give a zebra-like black-on-bay or black-on-chestnut pattern that superficially resembles the quagga. In zebra-donkey hybrids, there is usually a dorsal (back) stripe and a ventral (belly) stripe.

Zorses combine the zebra striping overlaid on colored areas of the hybrid’s coat. Zorses are most often bred using solid-color horses. If the horse parent is piebald (black and white) or skewbald (other color and white), the zorse may inherit the dominant depigmentation genes for white patches.

It is understood that tobiano (the most common white modifier found in the horse) directly interacts with the zorse coat to give the white markings. Only the nondepigmented areas will have zebra striping, resulting in a zorse with white patches and striped patches.

This effect is seen in the zebroid named Eclyse (a hebra rather than a zorse) born in Stukenbrock, Germany, in 2007 to a zebra mare called Eclipse and a stallion called Ulysses.

Zebroids are preferred over zebra for practical uses, such as riding, because the zebra has a different body shape from a horse or donkey, and consequently it is difficult to find tack to fit a zebra.

However, a zebroid is usually more inclined to be temperamental than a purebred horse and can be difficult to handle. Zebras, being wild animals, and not domesticated like horses and donkeys, pass on their wild animal traits to their offspring. Zebras, while not usually very large, are extremely strong and aggressive.