We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl yet, but a zebra has been born at Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden and is on display with its parents in the zoo’s lower zebra area.

Zoo spokeswoman Charlotte Roesner said the foal's birth occurred early Thursday.

She said zookeepers won’t be able to examine the young zebra for several days, giving the animal time to bond with its mother.

And until they know the gender, they aren’t tossing out names.

“Sometimes the zookeeper who discovers (the birth) gets to name the baby and sometimes the zoo staff comes up with one,” said Roesner.

In the meantime, she said the youngster “is up and running around and nursing off its mother.”

Zebra foals typically weigh about 55 pounds at birth and are a fuzzy, light-brown color, with the black stripes coming later, said Roesner.

The baby’s 25-year-old mother is named Press after the city’s evening newspaper which closed in the late 1990s; the 21-year-old father is Courier in honor of the morning daily.

This brings the zoo’s zebra population to five.

The West Side attraction is open year-round from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (entry gates close at 4 p.m.)

Admission is $8.50 for adults, $7.50 for ages 3-12, with Vanderburgh County residents receiving a $1 discount.

Visit http://www.meskerparkzoo.com for more information.

Source: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/aug/21/yikes-stripes-zebra-born-evansvilles-zoo/