1 66 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



times, when it was supposed to be a hybrid 

 between a horse and a tiger. At the present 

 day it is to be regarded as a rare and beautiful 

 form — perhaps, indeed, the most beautiful of all wild 

 animals— so that it is of interest to the naturalist. 

 But its true importance lies in the possibility that 

 its great strength and gentle disposition may one day 

 prove useful to man ; and that it may eventually 

 play an important part in the opening up of 

 Africa, especially in its own native haunts, where 

 the need of an efficient transport animal is so 

 great. In Grevy's zebra one sees an opportunity 

 of applying the study of natural history to a very 

 practical use : for it seems likely that by crossing 

 this animal with the horse or ass there might 

 be bred a race of giant mules, which would even 

 exceed in height the enormous measurement of 

 2 2 hands (7 ft. 4 in.) at the withers, already 

 recorded of the ordinary horse-donkey hybrids. 

 Needless to add, these strong "zebrules" would 

 be able to carry proportionately heavier burdens 

 than the ordinary mules, and would in the long 

 run prove cheaper than they, since a supply of 

 wild zebras could be captured from time to time 

 as required.^ 



1 A zebra farm has already been established at Nairobi on the 

 Uganda Railway for the domestication of BnrchelVs species, and there 

 is a similar institution in German East Africa.. Great numbers of 

 these animals have been trained by the German Government. It is 

 intended to ship to Europe a large consignment of sixty zebras 

 during 1904. 



