Zebra gives birth to Zonkey after mating with donkey

Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an organisation that works to rescue and rehabilitate animals in Kenya saw a zebra giving birth to a zonkey, a hybrid between a zebra and donkey. The news which was shared on its Facebook page has now gone viral.

The Trust was called to rehabilitate stray a zebra which ventured out of the Tsavo East National Park to a local woman’s cattle herd in May last year. The team transported the zebra to the Kenze Anti-Poaching Team’s base in Chyulu National Park which the friendly zebra quickly made it her home. 

Early this year the maintenance team caught a glimpse of the zebra with a tiny foal by her side and was surprised to notice that it has lesser stripes and was brownish in color.

“At first, we thought that it had just been wallowing in the mud bath, but then the truth dawned on us: Our wayward zebra had given birth to a zonkey!” the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust wrote.

Photos shared by the Trust show the little zonkey with striped legs running after its mother. The Trust also explained that a zonkey is a rare hybrid between a donkey and a zebra.

The zonkey should be able to lead a normal life but as a mule it won’t be able to successfully breed once it reaches maturity according to Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.