Wild animals are frequently thought to be prepotent over tame ones, but of the eleven zebra-hybrids bred at Penycuik only two took markedly after their sire, the zebra Matopo.[1] There are other experiments recounted which tell the other way, and at present this matter remains in a state of considerable uncertainty.
This article must not close without a word or two more about the zebra-hybrids. It is mentioned above that only two out of the eleven which have already been born took, strongly after their father.
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| Romulus. | Matopo. | |
Those who have seen the young hybrids playing about in the fields at Penycuik must agree that they are the most charming and compactly built little animals possible. Of Romulus, the eldest of the herd, Professor Ewart says: "When a few days old [he] was the most attractive little creature I have ever seen. He seemed to combine all the grace and beauty of an antelope and a well-bred Arab foal. . . . What has struck me from the first has been his alertness and the expedition with which he escapes from suspicious or unfamiliar objects. When
- ↑ The illustration shows the difference between the facial marks of the zebra and those of the hybrid. The latter, in this respect, bears much the same relation to the former as a blue-rock pigeon does to a fancy type.
