Wild zebra | Facts & Information

Features: they have long thin legs and distinct stripes

Zebra is a species that belongs to the family of horses and is distinguished by distinctive black and white stripes. Stripes appear in each individual in unique patterns. Zebras are animals that live in harems.

Unlike their relatives, horses and donkeys, zebras have never really been domesticated.

Plain Zebra,

Grevy's zebra (also known as the Imperial zebra)

Mountain Zebra.

They can be found in a variety of habitats: Plains, savanna, forest areas, hills and mountains.

The origin of the zebra is unknown. It is assumed that they came from England, Italy, Portugal, etc.the fact is that the latin name is "Equiferus" which means wild horse.

It evolved over the last 4 million years from ancient horses. It is assumed that the stripes appeared over time during evolution. The lowland Zebra is the most common species found in lowland areas in Southern and Eastern Africa.

Zebra Food

Zebras ' food is made up almost entirely of fodder, but may occasionally eat shrubs, plants, branches, leaves or tree bark.

Their digestive system allows them to survive on diets of lower nutritional quality than other herbivores.

Zebra Appearance

The common Zebra has a shoulder height of 1.3 m, body length of 2 – 2.6 m and a tail of 50cm. It can weigh up to 350kg, with males being larger and heavier than females.

The Grevy Zebra is larger than the common zebra (plain zebra), and the mountain zebra is the smallest of the three species. At first it was believed that zebras are white animals with black stripes, then it turned out that in fact the color of the animal is black and the stripes are white.

The stripes are vertical on the head, neck, body and most of the body, and horizontal on the legs. Vertical stripes help the zebra to camouflage itself in the grass, this helps it to escape from predatory animals, the largest predator being the lion.

Another hypothesis is that several grouped zebras confuse predators by letting them create that it is actually a single large animal. This makes it harder for the biggest animal, the lion, to choose a target.

Another variant of stripes is that their uniqueness helps individuals to distinguish themselves from each other. Staff the last hypothesis with the distinction I consider null, horses do not have stripes and are distinguished from each other.

Zebra Behavior

Zebras are slower animals than horses, but their endurance helps them escape predators. When they are chased, zebras run, like rabbits, zigzagging, which makes it difficult for predators to do their job.

When cornered zebras hit or bite the attackers. They have excellent eyesight. Like most hoofed animals they have eyes located on the sides of the head, able to cover a large field of vision. They can also see at night, but not as well as most prey animals (felines).

They also excel at hearing, their ears are larger and rounder than horses'. Like horses, it can rotate its ears in almost all directions. Besides seeing and hearing, zebras have an acute sense of smell and taste.

Like most horse families zebras are very social. Their social structure depends on the species. Zebras live in harems composed of a stallion and 6-7 and their Majes. When the harem is attacked by hyenas or other animals, the female forms a circle and puts the foals in the middle while the male tries to ward off danger. Like horses, zebras sleep on their feet and sleep only when they are near other zebras to be notified if any predators are coming.

It has been tried to domesticate zebras because they have a higher resistance to African diseases. This was unsuccessful due to the unpredictable character of the animal and the tendency to panic under stress.

Modern man has had and has had a great impact on the zebra population. Due to their popularity, these animals are hunted for their skin and meat.

The mountain Zebra was near extinction in 1930 when it had a population of less than 100 individuals. It has improved slightly due to conservation efforts. The species is still endangered and protected in some national parks. Quagga is an extinct species.

They are found in African folk tales where they tell how their stripes appeared. They appear on the coat of arms of the coin of Botswana. They are also present in movies and cartoons, all children love the Zebra from the movie Madagascar.

Zebra Breeding

Female zebras reach maturity earlier than males, a mare may have her first foal at the age of three. Males reach sexual maturity at the age of 5-6 years. One foal can be born every 12 months.

He stays with his mother until he is one year old. Foals are about 70kg at birth. They can move around and be nursed by the mare shortly after birth.

The color of the coat at birth is white-brown.

The life expectancy of a zebra is 20 to 30 years.