Shetland Pony Gives Birth to Zebra
.c The Associated Press
PENRITH, England (June 26) - The owners of Tilly the Shetland pony received a double shock when she gave birth. They didn't know she was pregnant - and they certainly weren't expecting a zebra.
Tilly's owners at Eden Ostrich World, a modest visitor attraction on a farm near Penrith in northwestern England had been unaware of the pony's exotic past life at a wildlife park, where she shared a field with a male zebra.
``She was fairly fat when we received her and we thought that she was getting fatter,'' Ostrich World manager Karen Peet said Tuesday.
``It really was a bit of a shock when we got up one morning and we saw the foal that was there.''
The striped half-Shetland, half-zebra foal - dubbed a ``zetland'' or a ``shebra'' but as yet unnamed - has flourished since her birth a week ago, and Peet said visitors would be able to view her beginning Monday. The farm plans to hold a competition to name the creature, which has black-and-tan stripes and a zebra's distinctive large head.
Veterinarians say such a foal is rare, but not unknown. British zoos have reported the birth of several ``zeedonks'' - offspring of a zebra and a donkey - over the years.
``Ponies and zebras very rarely share the same environment even in the wild. A meeting between the two is very rare in the natural environment,'' said Lesley Barwise-Munro, spokeswoman for the British Equine Veterinary Association.
``If the zebra is the father and the horse is the mother there is no reason why a normal fertilization and a pregnancy should not take place,'' she added. ``But the offspring is unlikely to be fertile.''
AP-NY-06-26-01 1017EDT
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