Zebra and donkey breed 'zonkey'
2005-05-09 15:27
Gaborone - The partnership between Botswana and Barbados has gone further than politics. It's given birth to a strange creature - a "zonkey".
The foal, born on April 21, has been named Alex and is a mix of a Botswana-born zebra and a Barbados donkey.
His mother, Allison, and her zebra mate, George, were shipped from Botswana to the Highland Ranch in Bridgetown, Barbados, in the 1990s.
When George fell ill last year, Allison found a new love interest in a local donkey.
"We knew she was with foal but were not sure who the father was," said head of the two-hectare Highland Ranch, Phillip Atwell.
George doesn't appear to be annoyed at the dalliance, however, and has accepted the foal as his own son. They were even spotted having "breakfast" together.
Young Alex is quite a news item on the Caribbean island, where a frustrated sports commentator recently drew laughter and applause from soccer fans when he blurted, "It's easier for a zebra to give birth to a donkey than for either of these teams to score a goal!"
Botswana president Festus Mogae recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Technical Co-operation with Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur.
"We share common ancestral roots, the African roots," he said.
The birth of a zonkey seems to provide biological evidence that the President's observation can be applied to other species too.