A ZOO in Cairo has been caught out trying to pass off a donkey as a zebra by painting it black and white.

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

4 A zoo in Egypt has tried to pass a donkey off as a Zebra Credit: Facebook

Student 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.

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

4 Student Mahmoud A. Sarhani spotted the strange stripey creature on a visit to Cairo’s International Garden municipal park Credit: Facebook

4 The zoo has denied that the donkey is a fake despite its suspiciously long ears and lack of distinctive mane Credit: Facebook

4 The creature in the zoo was noticeably different from the real thing Credit: Getty - Contributor

Local media in the North African country covered the bizarre incident with a lot of local vets confirming the animal was a donkey.

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However Mohamed Sultan, the director of International Gardens park, denied that the equine beast was an impostor.

Bizarrely, this isn’t the first time a zoo has tried to pass donkeys off as zebras.

In 2009, a zoo in Gaza painted two donkeys black and white to replace a pair of zebras that had died of starvation.