The animal sanctuary in the Egyptian capital's International Garden municipal park has recently opened but one visitor spotted something odd about one exhibit.

Tourist

Mahmoud A. Sarhani visited the zoo on July 21 and took pictures of the odd looking zebra. The creature had unusually long ears and lacked the distinctive mane usually present on the African beasts.

A closer inspection revealed the equine creature was in fact a strategically painted ass.

Viral

Mahmoud shared a photo of the "zebra" on Facebook and the post quickly went viral in Egypt.

A zookeeper has denied painting black stripes onto donkeys to make them look like zebras. Mohamed Sultan denies that the animal at the International Gardens Park in Cairo is a fake despite experts saying that they look like donkeys.