So you want to be a Zony?

Technically one of the "zebroid" breed, a zony is a cross between a boy zebra and a girl Shetland pony. Other zebroids include zorses and zeedonks (a zebra-donkey cross). Horse-Zebra hybrids are rare because horses have 64 chromosomes and zebras have 44.

According to Lesley Barwise-Munro, a veterinary surgeon in the UK, "the smaller number of chromosomes has to be on the male side," meaning that the mother of zebra hybrids will always be the horse.

Zebroids are of course half-wild, and as a result have a reputation for stubbornness. They also typically make a noise closer to the "barking" sound of a zebra instead of a "neigh."

The most famous zony of all is a three-year old named Pozee. Her mother is Tilly, a Shetland mare, and her father a zebra named Bijou.

The two met while sharing a stall in a UK wildlife park and apparently "[got] to know each other very well," surmises Pozee's owner.

Like other hybrids whose parents have mismatching chromosomes, Pozee is sterile, although Barwise-Munro predicts that she will enjoy a normal lifespan.

"It appears perfectly healthy and I can see no reason why this animal should not go on and live a long life."