Apologies for having lashed out.
But i have heard this darwinian story so oft that i have become tired of it.
Male equine hybrids are always sterile as with most mammalian hybrids.
There has never been a fertile mule stallion and only a handful of fertile mule mares (mollies) have existed.
The mule mare that gave birth to "White Lightning" was exemplary by having TWO foals with a donkey. The owners were trying to breed the mother to a zebra stallion to obtain a triple hybrid. But i never heard of any result..
Since we were discussing zebra hybrids and the possibility that some were fertile, I thought the alleged triple hybrid might be of interest especially as it attracted Charles Darwin’s curiosity too.
It is interesting to note that this individual is not included in Stanley Flower’s list of hybrid zebras born at London Zoo so it seems probable he was very sceptical about this too.
If someone like Stanley Flower did not believe it we certainly do not have to believe it.
But i mainly used Annie P. Gray's book on Mammalian Hybrids. Since my copies are gathering dust at Wassenaar i better buy a copy of Gray again. As i am to my neck in equine hybrids. I already mentioned the Grevy Zebra x Plains Zebra F1 and F2; i located more pictures. But I am after a photograph of the Ward's Zebra: a hybrid between Plains Zebra and Mountain Zebra. It is in one of the volumes of the Zoological Society and i think ms. Gray lists it. It was a mounted specimen; the live animal was bought from a circus around 1900.. Ward thought it was a new species of zebra..
By the way a few of the fertile mule foals are -poorly- fertile but they are just horses, nothing more..(There have been 50 to 60 fertile female mules & hinnies in the last 200 years.)
But i mainly used Annie P. Gray's book on Mammalian Hybrids............ But I am after a photograph of the Ward's Zebra: a hybrid between Plains Zebra and Mountain Zebra. It is in one of the volumes of the Zoological Society and i think ms. Gray lists it.........
Annie P. Gray’s book “Mammalian Hybrids” records that plains zebra x mountain zebra hybrids were regularly born in the Jardin des Plantes (Paris) around 1900; also at London Zoo in 1915. She refers to these hybrids as “Ward zebras”.
I have an old postcard depicting one of the Paris animals.
I think that the photograph you’re interested in, though, is the one of the so-called Ward’s zebra (named after the famous taxidermist Rowland Ward) on page 549 of the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for 1909
Thank you very much for the information.
Saves me a lot of searching.
Next year i will go to one of the zoological libraries and arrange for a photo of the mounted specimen.
Because there are no scans of zebra-zebra hybrids on the Internet save for the Grevy-Plains hybrids.
If you ever have the opportunity please put the postcard on the Net.
I think the Grevy-Mountain hybrids were stillborn, if i remember correctly.
The Jardin des Plantes had several equine hybrids. It was an interesting place during the Second Empire. As i read many of their publications. The Jardin also bred the rarest and most beautiful of zebroids: onager-zebra hybrids. The only scan i found is from the Jardin des Plantes but Lord Derby and prof. Antonius also bred these.
Anyhow, i will buy the Gray book all the same.
I did my research 1989-1994 without the Internet.
Thanks!!
There are photos of the Grevy-Plains Zebra hybrid all over the Internet. One shows her obviously pregnant. So we can safely assume the FEMALE hybrids can be fertile.
I had no idea the Proceedings of the Zoological Society could be consulted directly, even without a fee! So i obtained a download of the photo of the Ward's Zebra, who was probably a cross between the Cape Mountain Zebra and the Plains Zebra.
In addition a photo of a possible hybrid between Hartmann's Mountain Zebra and Plains Zebra has surfaced. It shows the probable hybrid stallion among a herd of Hartmanns..
Though not proven it is not improbable. Decades ago a Hartmann mare got a zebroid from a feral donkey.. All of this happens in the wild..
If only "Der Zoologische Garten" was available on the Internet so i could show you folks the onager zebroids..
Can I view the zebra/quagga information and photos on your 'Pinterest' pages properly, without logging in (it seems a bit complex). They seem to quickly get masked when I click on the link you provided. I'm particularly interested in the very brown common zebra photo you labelled- 'almost a Quagga'?.
Thank you for your interest.
Only recently i joined Pinterest so i am a stranger there myself.
I think the best way would be to register yourself with Pinterest - it is free.
For i even take pins from others without any problems.
The unusual coloured Plains Zebras are only half mine; the other half i took from a lady well versed in horse coat colours.
The variation in coat colours of these zebras is amazing.
It reminds me of the Russian nobleman who collected unusually coloured European grouses. He found every offbeat colour in domestic chickens among these wild grouses as well. (At the time the European grouses were still plentiful...).
I've managed to join/access Pinterest now and view the Zebroid page.
The animal in the photo at the top of this thread is rather similar to the Zebra x Donkey hybrid labelled 'Groombridge Place 2012'. However this Somali ass hybrid foal has only a single cross mark at the shoulder, and striping is limited to the legs only.
Interesting also to see the photos of the natural occurring Grevy/Plains hybrid(s), and the possible Mountain/Plains zebra hybrid. But the 'offspring' of the Grevy/Plains x looks identical to its xbred mother, not more similar to one or other pure parent, so might it not be a 2nd (unrelated) crossbred?
The 'brown' Plains zebra I mentioned- it shows far more brown base colour than any of the zebras in the Quagga project. This animal's genes would have been invaluable to that project.
There is a wide variety in stripes among zebroids.
But Ewart, who only bred horse zebroids with a Burchell stallion, already remarked that often the striping varies and sometimes looks like a Grevy Zebra's and not like its sire! Which is not the case with this donkey zebroid.
Others have remarked that donkey zebroids always look like wild asses, even if the parent is a common donkey and not a wild ass. One researcher even theorized Somali Wild Asses are fertile hybrids between zebras and asses. Unlikely i think.
Yes, of course we do not know whether the F2 zebra-zebra hybrid is really a F2. However, one other scan shows a pregnant F1! Of course the earlier F1 could have adopted a stray..
Also the genetics of fertile mules and their offspring show that the F2 are usually either a true horse or a nearly exact replica of the mother, a mule.
Maybe the zebra-zebra hybrids follow the same pattern ...
At the end of this month i will buy Gray's book and investigate some more..
