@tonyrebelo @jeremygilmore @ludwig_muller @tandala @oviscanadensis_connerties @maxallen @chewitt1 @aguilita @johnnybirder @beartracker @paradoxornithidae @jacqueline_llerena @grinnin @capracornelius @dinofelis @dejong
In the genus Equus, hybrids between species tend to be infertile, as seen in mules and hinnies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule).
Hybridisation between Equus grevyi (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/43339-Equus-grevyi) and Equus quagga boehmi (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=447363) would seem unlikely for additional reasons, viz.
However, hybridisation between E. grevyi and E. q. boehmi has indeed occurred.
As it happens, the appearance of the hybrids raises an intriguing possibility.
This is that mountain zebras (the clade represented today by Equus zebra and Equus hartmannae, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/43330-Equus-zebra) may possibly have arisen from hybridisation between relatives of E. grevyi and relatives of E. quagga, in southern Africa.
On Ol Pejeta Conservancy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ol_Pejeta_Conservancy), in the Laikipia district of Kenya, there has arisen a small population, reputed to be more than eight individuals, of a hybrid between Equus grevyi and Equus quagga boehmi (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347215001669).
This hybridisation occurred because this reserve has been home to several lonely male individuals of E. grevyi, which have mated with females of the local - and fully indigenous - population of E. q. boehmi.
I have collected photos of these hybrids, scattered on the Web, and I encourage readers to take screenshots, and make printouts, before these vanish electronically, owing to the usual attrition.
Equus grevyi and E. quagga have patterns, on the rump, of striping so different that it would have been hard to anticipate how any hybrid could reconcile these patterns.
The parental patterns are:
See https://www.animalspot.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Types-of-Zebras.jpg.
Unexpectedly, what the hybrids do, in fact, show is a semblance of the pattern seen in mountain zebras (Equus hartmannae https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zebra-showing-butt-1325349092 and https://www.pikist.com/free-photo-stbsq and https://www.news24.com/news24/video/southafrica/news/watch-the-battle-for-the-cape-mountain-zebras-future-20180514 and https://legacy.hoglezoo.org/meet_our_animals/animal_finder/hartmanns_mountain_zebra/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/berniedup/32924156561 and scroll in https://observation.org/species/239297/).
This raises the possibility that mountain zebras originally arose by means of a similar hybridisation.
If so, then an obvious candidate would be the recently extinct species Equus capensis, which was the southern version of E. grevyi (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233368144_Distribution_and_history_of_the_Cape_zebra_Equus_capensis_in_the_Quaternary_of_Africa and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equus_capensis and https://vera-eisenmann.com/IMG/pdf/128.E.capensis.pdf and https://philpapers.org/rec/CHUDAH and https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/EJC91909).
Additionally, there is evidence of hybridisation between Equus zebra and Equus quagga burchellii:
https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.3957/056.047.0059?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=South_African_Health_Review_TrendMD_0
PHOTOS OF HYBRID ON OL PEJETA CONSERVANCY, KENYA
http://safaritalk.net/topic/11790-not-a-real-trip-report-kenya-november-2013/
https://www.thepaintboxgarden.com/safari-kicheche-laikipia-part-2/hybrid-giraffe-ol-pejeta/
http://www.sushilchauhan.com/npcs/zebra_4(2).jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d5/fc/85/d5fc8578d10ec82ac52ef6a64f642128.jpg
http://www.thepaintboxgarden.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Hybrid-giraffe-Ol-Pejeta.jpg
https://cdn.audleytravel.com/-/-/79/232184025140028012237198019008128026229176082161.jpg
https://scavenging.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/zebra_burchell_grevy.jpg?w=300&h=213
Scroll in https://www.grevyszebratrust.org/conservation-status/
https://www.wildlifeofkenya.com/categories/ongulates/zebra-hybrid/
https://twitter.com/realscientists/status/1192736560212594688?lang=zh-Hant
https://twitter.com/realscientists/status/1192736560212594688
Comments
Equus quagga burchellii (before this population was removed) and SEARSIA in Mountain Zebra National Park:
https://www.dreamstime.com/burchell-s-zebra-mountain-national-park-plains-equus-burchelli-running-south-africa-image186178703
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/burchells-aka-grants-plains-zebra-equus-58797010
Shift
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-belsbok-looking-back-mountain-zebra-102472754
Shift to eland Post
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bontebok-antelope-looking-food-on-plateau-2156944039
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bontebok-antelope-looking-food-on-plateau-2156181097
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gemsbok-antelopes-oryx-gazella-natural-habitat-1792392142
Mislabelled
Shows horns in both sexes
Oreotragus
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/antelopes-national-park-tsavo-east-west-2106608606
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/antelopes-national-park-tsavo-east-west-2106608618
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/antelopes-national-park-tsavo-east-west-2098711516
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/black-wildebeest-connochaetes-gnou-open-grassland-1314501848
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rear-view-black-wildebeest-whitetailed-gnu-1082375666
PATTERNS ON RUMP:
EQUUS QUAGGA CHAPMANI:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bottom-detail-zebras-animal-2006708114
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-a-burchells-zebra-rump-and-tail-showing-the-shadow-stripe-of-this-18762631.html
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-rear-view-of-a-burchells-zebra-rump-showing-signs-of-predator-wounds-31787602.html
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/back-end-zebra-walking-away-shadow-1489767467
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zebras-grazing-rietvlei-nature-reserve-pretoria-2039407880
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-zebra-butts-one-looking-over-1592439379
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/black-white-zebra-butt-lovely-striped-1864054483
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closeup-view-black-white-african-zebra-1370819993
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zebra-backside-587280491
EQUUS QUAGGA BURCHELLII:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/back-zebra-looking-into-savannah-seen-1979427362
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zebra-burchells-wildlife-background-africa-kissing-156008972
Shift
https://dnascience.plos.org/2018/01/25/a-closer-genetic-look-at-the-quagga-an-extinct-zebra/
Equus grevyi: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zebra-behind-84238351
Equus quagga boehmi: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zebra-butt-165060353
Equus quagga chapmani: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zebra-backside-38897524
Equus quagga boehmi
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zebra-butts-park-summer-1706783653
Equus grevyi:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zebra-behind-1290881845
Shift
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Photographs-of-a-Plains-zebra-b-Grevys-zebra-c-Mountain-zebra-and-d-African_fig9_291356322
Interesting proposition
Add a Comment