A cold walk in Scotland

December 2010 has been the coldest winter in 20 years, local papers say. It  was nice walking through Stirling again, after many years, even if it was ‘quite cool’… Walking through town, a real Christmas shopping atmosphere enveloped us participating in a technical workshop at Stirling University. The walk up to the castle was either over snow, or black ice on the road… very slippery. We passed the old town jail, and veered off to the town’s cemetery, a place I had not visited previously, Why not? Many celtic crosses later and a few falls, we could see a grand view of  the castle, and in the background Sheriffmuir hills covered in snow extending eastwards in the direction of St Andrews, a glimpse of the Ochils, with Alva and Alloa somewhere at the foothills.  It was reassuring to see Robert the Bruce, still with his hand on the sword’s hilt at the castle gate overlooking  Stirling. Back at the university, the pond had all but completely frozen, leaving just a small pool for the whole bird population to concentrate sadly, in need of rest, and some food.

Robert the Bruce

Stirling Castle

The Baron's zebroids...

As we know, coffee originates in Africa...
                                                  and so do zebras !

In the late 19th century, it was fashionable to train zebras to pull carriages.

  Myth or not, historian Milton Teixeira, who once visited Fazenda Santa Maria and Ponte Alta, told us that Fazenda Santa Maria had at one point had or bred zebroids. This struck me as fantasy at the time, nevertheless, it stuck to the back of my mind for 30 years, until I had a go at further investigating with some help from internet sources.

Zebroids? 
A zebroid is a cross between a zebra, usually a male, and a horse mare. Other zebroids are called zorses and zonkeys. Funny names for sure. These hybrids have occurred as a result of confined conditions found in Zoos and circuses. But, how and when did this come to happen in the Vale do Paraíba coffee valley?

Zebroids were first obtained in Brazil in the Marques do Paraná’s  (Honório Carneiro Leão) beautiful Fazenda Lordello which was built during the first part of the XIX century in moorish style. Mauro Luiz Senra Fernandes an historan tells us in his site that the Marquee's son Henrique Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Barão do Paraná), was titled as Baron of Paraná by the empire in 1888. 

The Baron of Paraná (MD)and his wife (from Mauro S. Fernandes).

He was born in the Rio de Janeiro province in 1847 and died in 1916. In 1870 he graduated as a Medical Doctor in Rio de Janeiro. Henrique was considered an advanced farmer in the district of Sapucaia, where he inherited the family’s estate Fazenda do Lordello located in Porto Novo. His knowledge of Medicine led him to contribute not only towards the improvement of Medicine and hospitals in the region, but also in the fields of genetics and animal breeding where he developed early crosses of european cattle with Zebu from India. He also successfully developed the zebroid, a word he coined  - i.e. a hybrid between the horse and zebra. 

The Baron of Parana and his zebroid-pulled 'victoria' buggy

A man of secluded and extravagant habits, his appearances in Além Paraíba were spectacular, especially when driving his ‘victoria’ model buggy pulled by the zebra siblings Canon and Carabine he acquired in 1892 from the Paris Jardin d'Acclimatiation a mix of Botanical Garden and Zoo, so as to initiate his hybridization assays. Carabine, eventually died, but Canon sired at least 9 zebroids out of different mares. Some of these were: Lordello. Male; foaled December 5, 1896; out of the mare Staol,  by the zebra Canon; - brown bay striped with black. Menelick. Male; foaled January 15, 1898; out of the mare Ella, by Canon; - gray, striped with black. Saha, Female; foaled June 22, 1898; out of the mare Denise, by Canon; - light bay, striped with black. Salomon, Male; foaled July 2, 1898; out of the mare Ingleza, by Canon ; bright bay, striped with black. Erythrea, Female; foaled December 30, 1898; out of the mare Ella, by Canon. - bay, the zebra stripes being dark brown. He was not the only doctor experimenting with this! A Scotsman, Professor Cossar Ewart of the University of Edinburgh in about 1895 began his work in animal breeding however with much more limited success. Both apparently used a Burchell's zebra as stallion.

The Baron of Paraná stated that “these zebroids are very sprightly but at the same time are gentle, becoming very docile in the hands of those who care for them. They feed as well from the manger as in the pasture, and are possessed of extraordinary muscular strength. Therefore they maybe bred at will for the saddle or for heavy or light draft. It is only necessary to select the mare possessing the qualities desired” 

There was hope that zebroids would become natural substitutes to mules. Since zebras are hardy animals and naturally immune to tsetse, their offspring definitely should possess the qualities of the ‘hybrid vigor’. At about the same time, British explorers in Africa such as Speke and Burton, searching for the source of the Nile experienced heavy losses of horses and donkeys carrying their supplies during each expedition. A solution such as the zebroid would have been welcome!

 Obtaining zebroids under controlled conditions such as did the Baron of Paraná became big news back then and was posted world-wide in newspapers from California, USA to Sydney, Australia. The Baron of Paraná’s success was unprecedented. This won the Baron a medal from the  Société Nationale d'Acclimatation in France where his work was published in its annals. (Parana (Baron de). Le croisement du zèbre avec la jument obtenu au Brésil. Bull. Soc. d'Acclim., 1897, p. 124 et 433 (p. 102).) 

 Apparently, according to GUSTAVE LOISEL, the Baron's farm in Brazil was successful enough in reproducing these hybrids so as to export them to Paris, where they could be seen pulling carriages!

Above, NicolauNetto Carneiro Leão - The Baron of  Santa Maria - and below, his zebroid !

Image sent by historian Milton Teixeira - 'O Zébroide do Barão de Santa Maria - de Barra do Piraí'
from the pages of the Almanac  'Eu Sei Tudo, of  1918 !

Sources:

The Sydney Mail - Aug 9, 1902

http://www.nahste.ac.uk/isaar/GB_0237_NAHSTE_P0185.html

http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/united-states-bureau-of-animal-industry/annual-report-of-the-bureau-of-animal-industry-for-the-year--goo/page-39-annual-report-of-the-bureau-of-animal-industry-for-the-year--goo.shtml

Société nationale d'acclimatation de France

(http://books.google.fr/books?hl=fr&id=d8gHAQAAIAAJ&q=z%C3%A9bro#search_anchor) .

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cts=1331235953242&ved=0CCkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmemoria.bn.br%2Fpdfs%2F259764%2Fper259764_1909_00032.pdf&ei=dwtZT537CqjL0QWnwPznDQ&usg=AFQjCNHeOicXoJjKh8GTGnGThcvaP6jT-g&sig2=TImswcCgLDfbrgSFJ62Rlw

http://alemparaibahistoria.blogspot.com/2010/10/henrique-hermeto-carneiro-leao-barao-do.html
http://www.archive.org/stream/histoiredesmna03loisuoft/histoiredesmna03loisuoft_djvu.txt