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ZimParks confirms existence of ’zonkey’ in Guruve

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A ZONKEY, a combination of a donkey and zebra, is being reared at a certain homestead in Guruve for the past two years, the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) has said.

A ZONKEY, a combination of a donkey and zebra, is being reared at a certain homestead in Guruve for the past two years, the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) has said.

BY STAFF REPORTER The animal, which is in Masvitsa Village in Guruve, was fathered by a donkey and it looks more like a donkey with only front legs having stripes of a zebra.

According to ZimParks, the zonkey is staying comfortably well among other animals and its mother. However, there was no clearly defined relationship with the father.

“A donkey has mated with a zebra resulting in the zebra giving birth to what is called a zonkey. The zebra, which has been staying for the past two years in Masvitsa Village in Guruve, is very protective of its young one whom it is still feeding,” ZimParks said.

zonkey

“When Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority visited the area they found the two comfortably grazing together with cattle from the local community. They watched from a distance of about 20 metres and discovered that the young one is a donkey, except for the front legs one notices zebra stripes.”

However, a zonkey is less likely to reproduce offspring of its own, as the cross-breeding of two different species often results in their young being sterile.

In other parts of the world, zonkeys or zedonk are also bred for riding and as work animals involved in transport and pulling heavy loads due to their strength and stamina.

Because of unchecked human activities on zebras, especially hunting, chances of zonkeys occurring in the wild are becoming slimmer and slimmer, with the majority of them today found in zoos.

However, it remains to be seen whether the two animals will one day mate again to produce a sibling of an already existing rare animal in Guruve.