Last weekend I got the pleasure of spending my Sunday afternoon with the cutest animal I have ever laid eyes upon. Ansel Adams is a 2 week old zebra who is living in a family's backyard about a mile from my parents house. The first thing I noticed when I was petting him was that the hair on his forehead had been worn down and although it didn't appear to have been cut open it was clear something had happened to the little guy. I asked the man who's house he is staying at for the time being and he told me that Ansel had to be taken away from his mom after one week and normally baby zebras rub there head on the mom's belly as a calming mechanism and also before they feed. Since the poor little guy didn't have his mom he was rubbing his forehead on the wood fence causing the hair loss. They realized he was doing this so they hung a sheet in the backyard that he spent a considerable amount of time standing next too and wiping his face on. This broke my heart. I didn't understand why they weened him from his mom so early. Rick (the man who is currently hosting little Ansel) said that since Zebras are wild animals if they aren't taken from their mothers immediately then it is impossible to separate them after that bond has been made and tame them. This particular baby zebra was born at the "Alto Zoo", supposedly, even though I live like 1 mile from Alto and have never heard of this alleged zoo. An on out of state man wanted to purchase little Ansel and so Rick was keeping him in his backyard until the new owner is able to come pick him up. I am getting all worked up just writing about this. He is the sweetest little zebra I have ever seen and I tried to convince the man to let Ansel come live over with my mini horses for the time being and when he got too big he could be put in the pasture with my quarter horse Duke. Rick said that Ansel was the nicest zebra he had ever been around and he was going to actually see if he could keep him and find another zebra for the buyer. If he does, I might have to find a way to buy him...
Something else that I learned about zebras in the process was that they make a noise similar to a hiccup which surprised me. I expected that it might nay like a horse but it actually has a sound totally unique to its species. All I know is I want little Ansel Adams to be mine. Add him to the list.
- Lizzie