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EL BOGOI TO MOMBASA 



417 



the legs appearing to be kept very upright, and unless hard 

 pressed do not " lay themselves out " at all. Grevy's starts 

 off at a trot, with free, high action, and its movements recall 

 those of the horse rather than the ass. Its head is held 

 hjgh, too, while the other keeps a more horizontal position 

 of the neck. I have read that the trot is an acquired pace, 

 peculiar to the domestic horse and not natural to it in its 

 wild state. If so, the paces of Grevy's zebra correspond more 

 with our civilised horses' than can those of their nearer wild 

 relatives'. 



I have often been asked, when mentioning the fact that 



Eqiius biirchclli. Equiis grevyi. 



Zebra Hoofs. 



the two kinds of zebra are frequently found consorting 

 together (it being especially common to see a single stallion 

 grevyi in a troop of the smaller species), whether they do not 

 cross breed. In reply to this question I say, certainly never. 

 Wild animals of distinct species do not interbreed in a state of 

 nature — unless, perhaps, very rarely, under quite exceptional 

 circumstances ; and then, probably, only owing to artificial 

 causes, such as one kind being almost wholly exterminated by 

 man. Even in the few recorded cases, the hybrid animals are 

 often doubtfully so, and may be erroneously called by that 

 name. I do not believe the females allow any such intercourse. 

 That they graze together is nothing extraordinary ; many 

 totally different kinds of herbivorous creatures arc in the habit 



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