Monday, March 30, 2009

Man Riding Zebra

Now this is something you do not see every day. The picture was taken in 1890, and shows a man riding a Zebra. Zebras look like a horse, but you normally don't see them with a saddle. I wonder how close they are to a domesticated horse, or a donkey.

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8 comments:

  1. Here are some facts from our friends at Wikipedia:
    There are three species of zebra: the Plains Zebra, Grevy's Zebra and the Mountain Zebra. The Plains zebra and the Mountain Zebra belong to the subgenus Hippotigris, but Grevy's zebra is the sole species of subgenus Dolichohippus. The latter resembles an ass while the former two are more horse-like. Nevertheless, DNA and molecular data show that zebras do indeed have monophyletic origins. All three belong to the genus Equus along with other living equids.

    Or, this could be a Zorse. You can find info on Zorses by googling them.

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  2. Zebras are know to be extremely skittish. Past attempts to domesticate zebras have failed. There are apparently only 14 animal species on the earth that have been domesticated successfully.

    Seeing an actual photograph of a saddled and ridden zebra is amazing to me. I wonder if this animal had been sedated somewhat.

    We never see circus acts with zebras, as I recall.

    Great photo.

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  3. That zebra does not look sedated at all!
    This link has the same photo and brief description of attempts to domesticate zebras and the reason why. (Resistance to tse tse and some african diseases against which horses had no immunity.) Overall, just wasn't a good idea due to the zebra's inherent wild instincts.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra#Domestication

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  4. He looks like he's going to fall off!!!

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  6. a zorse is a zorse, of course, of...well, you know the rest

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  7. I have seen Zebra's in the wild. They are incredibly skittish as they have to live under the constant threat of large carnivores such as Lions and leopards. They have to drink out of crocodile infested rivers. Males fight each other to injury to mate. And this is before nightfall which is the when hunts start in earnest.

    This must have been a domesticated Zebra as a foal.

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  8. When I was 15 I worked a man's horses at a training/race track here in Florida, Coronado Stables, and they had a racing Zebra that resided there.

    It was amazing to see and something I'll never forget.

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