British Shetland Pony Gives Birth to Zebra
P E N R I T H, England, June 26 -- The owners of Tilly the Shetland ponyreceived a double shock when she gave birth. They didn't know shewas pregnant — and they certainly weren't expecting a zebra.
Tilly's owners at Eden Ostrich World, a modest visitorattraction on a farm near Penrith in northwestern England, had beenunaware of the pony's exotic past life at a wildlife park, whereshe shared a field with a male zebra.
"She was fairly fat when we received her and we thought thatshe was getting fatter," Ostrich World manager Karen Peet saidtoday.
"It really was a bit of a shock when we got up one morning andwe saw the foal that was there."
The striped half-Shetland, half-zebra foal — dubbed a"zetland" or a "shebra" but as yet unnamed — has flourishedsince her birth a week ago, and Peet said visitors would be able toview her beginning Monday.
Naming Contest
The farm plans to hold a competition toname the creature, which has black-and-tan stripes and a zebra'sdistinctive large head.
Veterinarians say such a foal is rare, but not unknown. Britishzoos have reported the birth of several "zeedonks" — offspring ofa zebra and a donkey — over the years.
"Ponies and zebras very rarely share the same environment evenin the wild. A meeting between the two is very rare in the naturalenvironment," said Lesley Barwise-Munro, spokeswoman for theBritish Equine Veterinary Association.
"If the zebra is the father and the horse is the mother thereis no reason why a normal fertilization and a pregnancy should nottake place," she added. "But the offspring is unlikely to befertile."
