Donkey Zebra cub born in Italy and delights the world [gallery]
Ippo is a lovely puppy that was born half zebra, half dumb for about four months in Italy. The rare cross, which in English is known as "zonkey" - which is the mixture of the words "zebra" and "donkey" - came from a male zebra and a donkey.
This is one of several possible combinations for having a zebroid (a hybrid of a zebra with any other horse), although the case of Ippo is rare and she is the only zebroid in all of Italy. Although they result in healthy pregnancies and young, crosses between zebras and donkeys do not occur frequently.
A rare encounter
In the case of Ippo's parents, the animals met in a reserve in Florence, northern Italy. One fine day, Martin (the zebra) literally jumped over the fence and crossed the donkey area in search of Giada (the donkey). Twelve months after this rare encounter, Giada gave birth to Ippo.
Zebroids usually maintain the characteristics of both father and mother. According to the other cases of this hybrid ever recorded in the world, these animals tend to look like a donkey, but retain striped legs and a wilder nature like zebra.
Another important fact is that it is common for animals like Ippo to be infertile because of the number of odd chromosomes that are lost during reproduction. The biologists responsible for the puppy do not yet know if he will be able to give birth, but that will not prevent him from having a happy and healthy life.
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