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donkey mated with a zebra to produce a brown animal with black and white striped legs. The zedonk (half zebra, half donkey) was born last week at the Xiamen Haicang Safari Park in China. A female zebra shared an enclosure with three male donkeys. None of the males has admitted parentage. (Honestly, guys, that’s so typical.)

Some people are worried that the zoo may get into trouble, because Zedonk sounds like the personal name of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, I heard from reader Carol Wan, who sent me the information. Will the Chinese communist party take this as an insult and send the creature off for re-education? Mao Zedong’s main achievement was to cause 30 million deaths, but he is considered a hero in China, not sure why. Perhaps people didn’t like their grandparents.

But Beijing leaders may see the birth of the zedonk as a compliment, and make the animal head of the politburo. This would be a good thing, Carol says: “Equine species are good with people, so we could see an improvement in China’s human rights situation.”

Here are four more letters from readers.

1) On the subject of identifying voices on conference calls by assigning theme tunes, Graham Lovell sent this list. Downsizing specialist: “Another one bites the dust”. Office temp: “Substitute”. Consultant: “We can work it out”. And, for the member of staff who always leaves at exactly 5 pm: “Clocks”, followed by “She’s not there.”

Ameena Chowdhury said Muammar Gaddafi could have used “The man who can’t be moved”, Dominique Strauss-Kahn “The Ladykiller”, and Rupert Murdoch “Do you want to hear a secret?”

2) Jaya Wickrama sent me a tale from last week’s New York Post to add to our dumb criminals file. A man from that city called the police, gave his name and address, and said: “I killed my mom.”

A few minutes later, he called again, saying: “I mean, she committed suicide.” After thinking about it, police decided to go with his first version, and arrested suspect Jonathan Schwartz, 41, on murder charges. Moral: Think first, call police later.

3) Here’s a cynical one-liner from a reader named Ameer: “A man is innocent until proven bankrupt.” Something tells you’ve used criminal defense lawyers, Ameer.

4) Pigeons never forget, French scientists discovered, according to a reader who did not want her name printed. The small gray birds remember who feeds them and who doesn’t. Even when the feeder and the non-feeder swap clothes, pigeons aren’t fooled, but look at the humans’ faces to see who’s who, claims Paris-based researcher Dr Dalila Bovet.

I was amazed at this. How did pigeons get to be so smart? If I wear a hat my dog won’t let me into the house. My children are pretty much the same. Can I get pigeons to train my dog? Or my children, come to that?

The really scary thought is this: all the pigeons who have ever pooped on me probably did so deliberately, knowing who I was. I’m never leaving home again. Bang goes my plan to visit the zebra-donkey and tell its keepers to name it Mao, as in Mao Zedonk.’

The writer is a columnist and journalist.