Birth of a Zedonk (Pics and Video)

Saw this on the news and thought I'd share it.




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It's being called a "zedonk," an unusual cross between a donkey and a zebra.The foal -- nicknamed *Pippi Longstocking* -- was born last week at the Chestatee wildlife preserve in Georgia.
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It's apparently a pretty rare occurrence for a zebra to successfully breed with a donkey:

Donkeys and zebras don’t usually mate, but zedonks turn up occasionally. In 2005, a zebra gave birth to a zedonk in Barbados, according to the news website Science Daily. And in the 1970s, three zedonks were born at a European zoo to a donkey mother, according to the website of Britain’s Colchester Zoo.
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Seems we're pretty fortunate to witness such a rare and unusual event.

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Here is a link to the website of the Chesatee Wildlife Preserve where Pippi Longstocking was born.

Pippi is in good health and expected to be allowed to wander among all the other exotic animals at the zoo:

So far she's healthy and doing fine, the AP reports, and as she grows she'll wander the 25-acre preserve with the other exotic animals who have been abandoned or rescued, including a camel, her parents, and a donkey half-sibling.
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Thanks for stopping by to have a look.


TheAssoc.







[edit on 31-7-2010 by TheAssociate]

[edit on 31-7-2010 by TheAssociate]

I always find these things fascinating. As I understand it (and correct me if I'm wrong) cross-breeds like these are sterile.

I've always wondered why nature generally does not allow entirely new breeds to be created via mating... such as Ligers and so forth. Sure you can create one initially but they can't breed. Why does nature have such 'laws'? Why are they in place? What type of outcome is nature preventing by enforcing such 'laws'? Would it really be that bad?

It's as though nature has a plan for each and every animal that must not be messed with. Don't get me wrong, I'm not alluding to a god here as I'm agnostic. As I said, I just find it fascinating.

IRM

[edit on 31/7/10 by InfaRedMan]

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
I always find these things fascinating. As I understand it (and correct me if I'm wrong) cross-breeds like these are sterile.

Looks like you're right about that:

The chromosome difference makes female hybrids poorly fertile and male hybrids generally sterile due to a phenomenon called Haldane's Rule.
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Apparently it has something to do with Haldane's Rule. This is the first I've heard of it, but here's some further info:

Haldane's rule relating to hybrids of species and extended to speciation in evolutionary theory is easily stated:

When in the offspring of two different animal races one sex is absent, rare, or sterile, that sex is the heterozygous (heterogametic) sex.
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Interesting stuff. Thanks for the reply.


TheAssoc.