Donkey up top, stripey down below. It’s a rare Zedonk, a cross between a zebra and a donkey born last Monday at Chestatee Wildlife Preserve in Georgia.
THIS JUST IN: Redonk-Zedonk
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The one question I have that hasn’t been answered by the article is whether this was a planned zedonk or the zebra and donkey just happened to get together.
omg, i love that it’s actually officially called a zedonk. what a cutie pie – donkeys always look so soft and gentle. redonk indeed!
my little zedonk!
Oooh, looks like someone reeled in a nice striped ass.
oh my goodness, “all business up front, and a party in the back”!
aaaaaaw. How cute!
I had no idea this was even possible. Just perfect.
Ah ha ha ha. Striped knee socks. How zedonkulous. (well, someone would have said it eventually)
It’s Raggedy Ann!
Sara it was not planned! just one of those things
Striped leggings are so in this season!!
So who let the zebra in there?
Let’s see…babeh Zedonk here has a Zebra daddy and a Donkey mommy. So if they were Donkey daddy and Zebra mommy instead, will the babeh has striped body and plain leggings? And be called a Donkze?
It boggles the mind!
Didn’t we have a picture of a Zedonk before? I think Meg posted something like this 2 years ago.
Somebody’s been in the cookie jar eating too many fudge stripes.
“Stop asking me for Fruit Stripe gum.”
What racy stripey tights, very chi chi.
I’ve never heard them called “Zedonk” before, but I love it! I’ve actually seen quite a few – they have them at Oaklawn Farm Zoo in Nova Scotia – but they call them “Zonkey”!!
Its legs are so sleek, and its bottom so fluffy!
and a beautiful zedonk… or zonkey… it is!
According to the paper, it’s taken 25 years for this guy to come up with a zedonk.
http://www.ajc.com/news/what-do-you-get-579865.html
I’m not sure that excites me as much as if this had been spontaneous thing but that is a very attentive mom. She’s got a serious “this is the first and best baby that’s ever been born” kind of nuzzling.
I feel like this little guy’s colouring would be perfect camouflage. sometimes nature just manages to perfect itself!
NOMTOM, if I hadn’t checked the story for confirmation, I would have sworn that you made up the name Zedonk. It just sounds like you somehow!
With legs like that, baby’s a born hipster.
@ Susan- I’m visiting Halifax right now, do you know of this place you speak of is nearby? I’m so going to visit if it is!
@260Oakley, YOU, ma’am, are the redonk.
@Chanpon– Well played.
I am surprised nobody has commented on redonk zedonk badonkadonk.
@ Theresa: well, now “they” have
Just don’t go slapping my grandma ok?
(as a mostly unrelated aside my Mom has my neices conviced the line is “Slap your grandPA” and they do so, right on cue. Very clever my Mom is, singing the line EXTRA loudly so the neices don’t hear teh “wrong” word. )
We now return you to your regularly scheduled cooing at teh cute widdle fuzzymcstripeysokspants.
Coo!
That’s a LOT of sillybandz!
Completely zedonkulous! (It had to be said again)
It took the guy 25 years to get a result very likely because these creatures don’t willingly cross-breed. Humans do that to them, forcing them into situations, restraints, etc., not natural to them.
Pippi!! Pippi Long Stockings!
Yay! I don’t know who else might have, but I submitted this yesterday! I actually titled it “Zedonk-ulous’!
@Susan – I love Oaklawn Farm
@nads – Have fun in Halifax! Oaklawn Farm is in the Annapolis Valley and it’s a 1.5-2 hour drive from Halifax. There are other things to see in the Valley, too, though.
So cute!! And I love the name
260Oakely, you are the bomb. LOL
My apologies for the misspelling there…
I hate it when humans go through the trouble of domesticating a species for hundreds of years, and then other people go through a bunch of trouble to cross that domesticated species with a wild animal. It’s going backward, and doing no one a favor. And all for some cute stripes.
I’m a party pooper on this one.
Oakley & Theresa both: GAH!
Behbeh zedonk(adonk) looks like she stepped in a striped puddle and is slowly soaking it up.
That is a seriously beautiful critter.
…And I don’t know about willingly or unwillingly in hoofers beyond knowing what a mule is, but I know one of my friends had a male wabbit and a semi-feral rescue cat. Bunneh boy, before she was able to get them both fixed, demonstrated that he would have been happy to breed some cabbits with her cat had genetics not made it impossible. (And the cat was remarkably okay with this. What has been seen cannot be unseen…) Apparently some animules take a “don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it” view.
Coincidence?! This is zedonkulous!
(Click on the link to see yet another adorable zedonk.)
So whose brilliant (albeit misguided) brain child was it to mate a zebra with a donkey? And why is it only the legs that get stripes?
That’s a redonk zedonk! Soooooo cute! Can I gives it a treat?
I too wish to know if the leetle zedonk was planned?
li’l punky baby- stripey saux and a faux-hawk- sid and nancy would have approved
@Emma – I love it too!! I miss living in the area.
@nads – if you need more info, here is their website: http://oaklawnfarmzoo.ca/
They used to also boast the world’s largest lion, but I don’t see that on their site now… perhaps he lost weight?
Stripey McFluffybritches!
@Sharon
in case no one has pointed it out, the domesticated species we cherish were once… wait for it… WILD! going backward would be to let maru or winston loose in the jungle or on the savannah. that would horrible!
and once they’re domesticated you can’t keep ‘em out of the stores, begging their Moms to buy the hair streaking kits, like all the cool kids are doing.
He looks like a baby donkey that’s been dipped in zebra paint!
@Susan – I also miss living in the area.
Honkey Tonk Zedonk Adonk!
If there were a horn in the middle of its forehead, it would be the still-rarer Zedonkicorn.
This is the best thing ever. EVER!!!! I thought it was a joke! The stripey legs are so cute.
I still think a better name for these would be Zebronkeys.
It sorta looks like a donkey wearing very fashionable leggings…
It’s a tabby donkey!!
(Speaking of tabbies, my tabby has her own Facebook group…shameless plug here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Rainbows-and-Flying-Ponies-The-Abbietastic-World-of-Abbie-McFlooferson/128943087149364?ref=ts )
Gah…that link is not working cuz it’s too long…just click on my name.
And I think all donkeys should wear leggings like this.
Wait … are you telling me leggings aren’t in style?
Notice how proud the Mama is of her stripey little babe? “He’s special,” she’s saying. Really.
there’s one in Kensett, Arkansas but we always called it a Zonkey
Kids today!
Best photo title ever! Redonk-zedonk is gonna take off.
@naturalady & sharon lovejoy: totally agree.
yeah we think its cute to cross-breed zebras & donkeys, tigers & lions (you all know the liger), but there are some serious issues that result from this. i know at least ligers dont stop growing and die very young, and all crossbreeds are born sterile. many also have other complications with their health. poor guys… i really dont know if thats okay…
I think the zoologists who named the species (or whoever’s in charge of such things) must be C.O. fans!!
That little boy (or girl) is just about TOO BEAUTIFUL!!
The little zedonk’s name is Pippi Longstocking. MSNBC has a video of her in which you can see that she has small stripes on her face too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebroid
See this section in particular:
“Zebroid is the generic name for all zebra hybrids. The different hybrids are generally named using the portmanteau convention of sire’s name + dam’s name. There is generally no distinction made as to which zebra species is used. See individual entries for more information on the different types of zebroid. Many times when Zebras are cross-bred they develop some form of dwarfism.
Zebra (stallion) + horse (mare): zorse, zebra mule, zebrule or golden zebra
Zebra (stallion) + pony (mare): zony
Zebra (stallion) + Shetland pony (mare): zetland
Zebra (stallion) + any ass species (jenny): zebrass
Zebra (stallion) + donkey (jenny): zedonk, zeedonk, zonkey, zebronkey, zebadonk
Zebra (mare) + donkey (jack): zebret, zebrinny
Zebra (mare) + horse (stallion): hebra, horbra “
adorableeee!! <3
This is a very rare childhood photo of Mao Zedonk, first chairman of the Nommunist party of the Georgian republic.
@Argyle Donkeypants, thanks for clearing that up. I wondered if maybe it was Zenadine Zedonk, the retired French footballer.
Argyle Donkeypants!!!!!!!!!
Excuse me,
Zebra (stallion) + Shetland pony (mare): zetland
Zebra (mare) + horse (stallion): hebra, horbra
I know things happen in nature that we don’t plan but I would imagine that these wouldn’t be encouraged just as mules are supposed to have horses as dams. In fact, aren’t they legally supposed to be only born to horses?
“Horse” “Mule” “Horse” “Mule” … “Tradition!”
Kar:
It does say in the linked article that zebroids with the zebra as the father are a lot more common than those with the zebra as the mother.
Oh, and Sasha’s Mum, when I read your post I was suddenly back on stage in my senior year of high school… I was on the ‘mule’ side of the ‘debate’ !
( I played Grandma Tzeitel in the dream sequence…good times ! )
They look like racing stripes to me!
Patterned tights ARE all the rage this season.
Mom into Zedonks ear–”smile pretty for the camera dear”.
Zedonk- ” Smile??? When can I take these tights off? Do you KNOW what my friends are going to say tomorrow???”
Kar – the reason for donkey + horse requiring the dam to be the horse, is if I remember correctly the same as in dog breed-mixes between, say, a chihuahua and a corgi being safer if the corgi is the mom: because donkey mares are a LOT smaller than most horses, and a large hybrid foal could cause complications the other way around.
@donna
have you no consideration for a woman’s feelings?!
Correcting myself: Donkey… Jennies/Jennets – Not mares. I knew that, but I was still recovering from the Care Bun Stare (with lasers).
Sharpy :
What did I say wrong ?
Whatever it was, I’m sorry.
@donna
NOOO! it’s a line from fiddler! i thought that’s what you were referring to. i’m very, very sleepy.
A google search for “Zebrinny” gave me this picture:
Alot more stripey than a Zedonk. Has anyone found a picture of a Zetland or Zony?
All Zebroid mixes are also born sterile because of the odd number of chromosomes.
It’s seriously called a Zedonk?
Seriously? O_O
Sharpy:
Oh, yes ! That’s one of Fruma Sarah’s lines. It’s been a while, and I forgot that one !
@Donna
PHEWWW! it was the only one i could remember at the time.)
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