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| A Zorse (Photo by C & D Schmitt) |
Visitors at the Taigan zoo in southern Crimea are flocking (herding?) to see the zonkey Telegraph cozy up with his zebra mom.
A zonkey (aka “zebroid”) is a cross between a zebra and a donkey. In this case, Telegraph’s mother (a lonely maiden) was "introduced" to Telegraph’s father (one lucky lad).
Before you knew it, along came Telegraph. With his black-and-white striped legs and donkey-like head and body, he’s been a real crowd pleaser.
However, not everyone has been on board with this type of intermingling.
Anna Kachurovskaya of the Moscow Zoo made this pronouncement:
Such things don’t happen in civilized
zoos… This sort of marketing is not
justified or scientific… zoos are for preserving
wild species, that is one of their most important
goals.
Taigan director Oleg Zubkov begs to differ. He points out
that Telegraph’s mom was simply placed in an area that housed “several other hooved animals and she really liked the donkey.”
Thus far, Telegraph doesn’t seem to be complaining either.
Playfully romping, he seems unaware of the controversy surrounding his hybrid roots.
Resources
http://news.msn.com/offbeat/telegraph-the-zonkey-born-at-crimean-zoo
Copyright August 8, 2014 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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