Several years back, a zonkey was born to a female donkey and male zebra! Ippo has stripped black-white legs and a donkey-shaped face.
Although this rare animal is intriguing to look at, the breeding was not intentional. Ippo’s father who was a zebra jumped a fence to get to Ippo’s donkey mother. Donkeys and zebras are closely related as both belong to the horse family. Although the two can mate, it is rare for them to produce offspring. Zonkeys are also sterile just as mules are. There is a slim chance that a zebra mating with a donkey will result in offspring because the two animals do not have the same number of chromosomes. While a donkey has 62 chromosomes, a zebra has between 32 to 46. This is why Ippo is so loved!
Sources:
- Main Image: BoredPanda
