# Mr Ed a zebra.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2001, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741 "2001-05-08T09:03:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RAWisSYDNEY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@RAWisSYDNEY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWisSYDNEY)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2001, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741/1 "2001-05-08T09:03:51Z")
I read on Snopes that Mr Ed was a zebra all the time, except in publib appearances. and someone said that a zebra was used in a few scenes to cover their proverbial asses. But i also read that he was actually a horse, but only a zebra in a few scenes. Can anyone tell me the truth? maybe some websites? ---
**Author:** ![Ned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Ned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ned)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2001, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741/2 "2001-05-08T09:24:28Z")
A search finds me this: > [@](#): > > I don’t know why the snopes pages decided to do this, but they put a series of jokes in a section call “Lost Legends.” In this section are spoofs. Pages where they aren’t really telling the truth. They gives some clues to this. At the Lost Legends page ([http://www.snopes.com/lost](http://www.snopes.com/lost)), there is the message that says “Note: Any relationship between these ratings and actual events is purely coincidental.” At the bottom of the Mr. Ed page, it says “Warning: Listen to Mr. Ed.”, and you hear Mr. Ed saying “Maybe I didn’t go to college, but I’m not stupid.” Here’s the kicker on the Mr. Ed page. On the page, there is a picture of a zebra in color. If you click on the “Printer friendly” button, the color picture turns to black and white, where you no longer see the stripes. But it is obvious that it is a completely different picture than the color picture. Apparently he was a horse named bamboo harvester. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2001, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741/3 "2001-05-08T09:53:52Z")
You may not have noticed that the snopes story you are referring to is located in [The Repository of Lost Legends](http://www.snopes.com/lost). The acronym is not accidental. David Emery of [About.com](http://About.com) Urban Legends and Folklore forum commented on the the snopes article in [this issue](http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/science/urbanlegends/library/bltrue12.htm) of his newsletter. A google search also throws up many sites which have biographies on Mr Ed. ---
**Author:** ![starfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@starfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starfish)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2001, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741/4 "2001-05-08T12:30:05Z")
He is a zebra. Everyone knows horses can’t talk. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741/5 "2001-05-08T14:45:43Z")
You’ve already been informed that this “legend” was a joke. In reality, the legend NEVER made any sense, because zebras are virtually impossible to domesticate, and can’t be trained to do anything! In fact, on the rare occasions that a movie requires a zebra to do something, the producers usually find it easier to paint stripes on a horse than to even TRY teaching a zebra to do a needed trick. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2001, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741/6 "2001-05-09T05:34:23Z")
That story’s completely false. It was a joke that people took seriously. Mr Ed was actually played by Millard Fillmore. ---
**Author:** ![Redboss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2001, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741/7 "2001-05-09T08:22:42Z")
Also a zebra and a zebra can’t reproduce, whereas horses can, so if all the horses were zebras there wouldn’t be any more zebras. Same argument as with homosexuals, really. So we agree we don’t approve of zebras? Redpoof ---
**Author:** ![RAWisSYDNEY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@RAWisSYDNEY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWisSYDNEY)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2001, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741/8 "2001-05-09T09:47:13Z")
then how the hell do zebra’s reproduce? unless they do it asexually ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2001, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741/9 "2001-05-09T09:58:44Z")
You like wrestling, don’t you RAWisSYDNEY? Just like that. ---
**Author:** ![Redboss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741/10 "2001-05-11T08:16:23Z")
horse horse 'course noone talk horse 'course that is unless horse zebra well listen to this - [sub]it’s late and I’m the last one in the office and I don’t want to go home and I’m just STUPID[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2001, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-ed-a-zebra/64741/11 "2001-05-11T14:27:58Z")
Mr. Ed was indeed a closeted Zebra. It is a shame that many famous ‘horses’ are actually zebras but feel the need to hide it because of fear or threats on their life. We were born this way. God made us just as sure as he made regular horses. Now those Palaminos are bunch of damn freaks who should all be destroyed.