This Is What Happens When A Zebra And A Donkey Hook Up

A zebra rescued from a failing zoo has mated with a donkey on an animal reserve in Florence, Italy, and produced - you guessed it - a baby "zonkey."

The male zebra and female donkey were not intentionally paired together, but likely hooked up when the zebra jumped the fence that separated the animals, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The family who owns the reserve has named the zonkey "Ippo" and said they do not have plans to sell it.

Donkeys and zebras are both species of horses. Although each species within the horse family has a unique number of chromosomes, they are all able to interbreed, Bruce Christensen, the chief of veterinary fertility at UC Davis, told the Los Angeles Times.

Zebra-donkey hybrids are rare, however there have been documented cases of zonkeys resulting from encounters between wild zebra herds and domesticated donkeys.