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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.
"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."
(Agencies)
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設得蘭矮種馬提利產下小馬駒的時候，她的主人感到了雙重意外：一來他們根本不知道提利已經懷孕，二來他們怎么也沒想到提利會產下一匹"斑馬"。
提利的主人生活在艾登鴕鳥世界，這個鴕鳥世界位于英格蘭西北部潘瑞斯附近的一家農場里，也說得上是個旅游景點。提利的主人們并沒有在意對這匹矮種馬過去在野生動物園的生活，這匹矮種馬曾和一匹公斑馬公同生活在野生動物園的一片領地里。
鴕鳥世界經理凱倫-皮特說："它剛到我們這兒來的時候就挺肥的，我們還以為它正在發福呢。"
"當我們一天早晨醒來，發現多了一頭斑馬駒的時候，著實吃了一驚。"
這頭帶有斑馬紋的小馬駒身上設得蘭矮種馬和斑馬的血統各半。現在它還沒有正式的名字，有人叫它"斑得蘭"，也有人叫它"設斑馬"。出生一周，小家伙的長勢良好，皮特說游客周一開始可以和它見面。
這個小家伙長著黑色、棕褐色相間的斑紋和具有明顯斑馬特征的大腦袋，農場計劃為它舉辦一場命名賽。
獸醫們表示這樣的雜交斑馬駒雖說不是沒有過，還還是很少見。英國動物園前些年曾有過"斑驢"，即斑馬和驢的雜交斑馬駒的報道。
英國獸醫協會研究馬科動物的女發言人萊斯麗-巴外斯-曼路說："野生狀態下，矮種馬和斑馬共同相處的可能性極少，二者很少有機會相遇。"
她還補充說："如果斑馬是是雄斑馬，矮種馬是是雌馬，正常的受精和受孕是完全可能的。不過他們的后代不大可能有繁殖能力。"
(中國日報網站譯)
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Updated: 2001-06-28 01:00
