OCR Text |
Show Zebra-Donkey a Success Tho creation of a now typo Is always al-ways Interesting; the effort of tho government to breed n zebra-donkey, or a zebra-horso Is particularly no slnco they already appear measurably successful. Tho animal breeders ol the department of, agriculture were Impressed some jcars ago with tho splendid 'conformation, largo sizo nnu great beauty of tho big Orcvy zebr.i which was presented to President Koosovelt by King Menellk of Abju-sluln. Abju-sluln. and which found a home at tbo National Zoological park at Washington. Washing-ton. Tho : obra was bred to donkeys and the resulting hybrids nro apparently appar-ently great successes, a half dozen colts and fillies now poking their noses over the fences at visitors to tbu zoo. So far ns markings nro concerned con-cerned they show somovvhat faint reproductions re-productions of tho strongly marked black and white stripes of tho zctirn stallion, but their parentage Is e,'i dent. The.v are, however, ns hard, upparontl), and endure, tho climate ot Wrshin.on us well a tho donkqv? Tu" tti Iking feature of tbo crois-urecdlng crois-urecdlng lb that tho hybrids show n decided lmptovemcnt ln othor respects res-pects over both patents lu action, conformation and disposition. The Git'vy Htnlllou weighs 800 pounds nud Is 13 1-2 bauds high, and while lie !a a benuty, ho Is not particularly ut-fectii ut-fectii nato, on the contrary ho Is vl-c.oiib. vl-c.oiib. The average weight of tho donkey dams Is r50, twelve bamlB high. Tho weight of the hybrids when only n year old was GOO and they stood twclvo hands high. They have good action, a neat, cleancut appearance, and nro as gentle ns horses fcnls of the samo ago. The h.vbrldB ought to bo tough, for tho zebra lu Africa Is ubUut tho toughest tough-est thing in the horse, lino In tho wend, nud ho apparently loses nono of these iiualltlcs by chango ot residence. resi-dence. The hybrids, then, should develop de-velop Into aulmuls with much greater endurance than the mule, and Bhould bo almost ns large. The zebra in Africn Is Immuno to many diseases and pests which kill off horses and mules, and It Is expected ex-pected that tho now hybrids will prcvo themselves moro hardy and disease reslBtnut than oven tho famous fa-mous Missouri army mule. |