Photo of the Day: Finding ‘zonkeys’ in Tijuana

The beauty of reporting is that on the way to one story, you make unexpected discoveries about another. Tuesady, while reporting on an architecture story in Tijuana, I stumbled into a stable where the city’s famed “zonkeys” — donkeys painted to look like zebras — are kept.

There was something terrifically charming about seeing the animals — generally used as tourist photo props on Avenida Revolución — chillin’ by the side of a hillside path.

For those who are unfamiliar with the phenomenon of the zonkey, I did some digging into The Times archives last year and found out that the stripes were first painted on the burros so that they might look better on high contrast, black-and-white film.

In other words, this is definitely art.

Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.

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