This animal is the Zetland. And no, I’m not using the z to replace the Scots yogh.
The stripes say it all. In 2001, this animal was born to Shetland pony cross mare at an ostrich farm in Cumbria in the north of England.
The mare was pastured with a plains zebra (Equus quagga) stallion, and they mated.
The owners had no idea that this particular pony was even pregnant, but when she had the foal, they were more than a little bit surprised. They just thought she was getting a little fat. And having had a Shetland pony, I can tell you that they love to eat and will get pudgy.
The Zetland as a foal. The cows, which look appear to be Dexters, look quite confused.
Shetland ponies evolved on the Shetland Islands. Yes, I said evolved. They were often left to forage in a semi-feral existence on the islands, where the forage was limited. Small size is a great adaptation to living in an environment with little food.
They can be very naughty.
But they aren’t anything like zebras!
I can’t imagine that the Zetland is the nicest horse in the world, but his markings are quite striking.
These zebra/horse hybrids are infertile. Unlike mules, I don’t think any zorses or zetlands or zonies have been fertile. A very small percentage of female mules are fertile, but I’ve not heard of any fertile “zebroids.” Mules derive from crossing a jack donkey with a mare. A horse has 64 chromosomes, and a donkey has 62. The mule has 63.
However, zebras have only between 32 and 46 chromosomes, and when crossed with a horse, the hybrid gets a really off number of chromosomes– usually averaging 54.
If a species normally had 54 chromosomes, it would be fertile, but this is a widely different chromosome number from either parent.
This off number of chromosomes might explain why the Zetland is sterile.
I wouldn’t want to have to handle that foal as it got older.
I found it interesting that the vet in the refed article said “The smaller number of chromosomes has to be on the male side…If it had been the other way around there would have been no pregnancy. It’s how nature works.”
I’d never heard this before and the hinny would seem to belie this statement. Of course, this same vet said that “hybrids are invariably* sterile”. S’far as I know “invariably” means never and we know that’s not the case.
(*According to Thesaurus.com, synonyms for “invariably are: always, constantly, customarily, habitually, regularly, unalterably, unfailingly.)
Vets usually don’t have great linguistic skills.
Belay that, it shud read S’far as I know “invariably” means that a hybrid can never have offspring and we know that’s not the case.