It wasn't until yesterday that I knew that hebra [see left] existed. With a zebra mother and a horse father, this neat creature makes for a great way to introduce genetics (cue the Punnett square). What makes the stripes stop and the white hair start? Now a hebra looks quite different than a zorse (horse mother, zebra father) [see right], which tells us something about X and Y chromosome differences; but what, I have yet to figure. I can see the NATURE clip right now: Shasta the Liger chasing a herd of rare hebra, after failing with the zorses. But wait! What lurks in the waterhole? A cralligator.
2 comments:
I find myself wondering over these same things! These are excellent pictures, I must say.
And I loved your Nature reference. It's Sunday... maybe I'll see what's on.
It's not whether this animal is a zorse or a hebra that determines the white. Rather, the zebra can only pass the stripes onto non-depigmented areas (colored hair), regardless of which way the pairing is. The mother of the white spotted animal was most likely a pinto or paint mare. The same could occur if the mother was a zebra and the stallion was a piebald (black and white) or skewbald (some other color and white), also known as pintos and paints. You can read more about hebras, zorses, the zony, and zonkeys and see more pictures at http://www.allhorsebreeds.info/horse-pictures/horse-oddities/117-zebra-horse.html
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