They Looked Like Zebras, But Were Braying

Either an Egyptian zoo director is lying about the animals he keeps or he doesn't know much about zebras. That's what animal experts are saying after a visitor to Cairo's International Garden park snapped photos of what appeared to be donkeys painted like zebras, per the BBC. "They brought a local donkey and painted it to look like a zebra," 18-year-old Egyptian student Mahmoud Sarhan captioned a photo posted to Facebook, showing him posing next to a chest-high animal with large pointy ears and black smudges around its face, reports CNN.

"Zebras can be small but never that small," their ears "are rounded, not oblong and pointy," and their stripes "are always defined, never smudged," a wildlife biologist tells the Independent. On top of that, Sarhan said the animal's braying clearly identified it as a donkey, per Global News. While zoo director Mohamed Sultan maintains all zebras at the facility are real, PETA is now demanding an investigation. "No reputable animal care facility would subject a skittish animal like a donkey to the stress of being restrained and sprayed with chemicals like paint, which could cause a painful allergic reaction" a rep says, per CNN. (This zoo's "lion" liked to bark.)