All About Zebras
Zebras look like horses and donkeys. They are best known for their black and white striped bodies.
Each Zebra’s stripe pattern is unique, just like the fingerprints of humans. These stripes are believed to help them hide well in the grass.
When a predator, like a lion, attacks them, Zebras run fast, and their patterns soon make the lion dizzy because the stripes seem to move as the zebras run.
Habitat
Zebras live in open plains, semi-deserts, open woodlands, mountainous regions and in savannahs.
They are mostly found in Sudan, Kenya and northern parts of Zimbabwe in Africa.
Types of Zebras
There are three types of Zebras, Plain, Mountain and Grévy.
Grévy Zebras are mostly found in northern Kenya.
Mountain Zebras are mostly found in South Africa with Hartmann’s Mountain zebras found in Namibia and Angola.
Diet
Zebras are herbivorous.
This means they eat mostly a variety of grasses.
They also eat shrubs, herbs, twigs, leaves and bark.
Behaviour
Zebras are very social animals and live in large groups called Harems.
The Harems are mostly made up of one Stallion, about six Mares, and their young.
The Stallions are males and the Mares are female.
Sometimes some harems would come together to form a herd of about thirty (30) Zebras.
Zebras mostly sleep standing up. When they sleep, some stand watch.
When they see a predator like a lion they would whinny loudly to warn others in the group.
Reproduction
Mares or female zebras mostly give birth to only one baby zebra called a foal.
The mare gives birth once a year.
Zebras are born with brown and white stripes. The brown later turns to black.
Mother zebras keep all other zebras away from her foal or baby for two or three days after she gives birth.
This enables the foal to recognize its mother by sight, voice and smell.
Threats
Zebras are under threat.
They are hunted for their skin and are also killed for food by some tribes and other predators such as lions and tigers.
Droughts also deprive them of grass and plants to eat, causing some of them to die of hunger and other related diseases.
Other Interesting Facts About Zebras
- A zebra can run up to 65km per hour.
- Foals (the name for newborn zebras) can stand 6 mins after birth.
- The Grévy type of zebras were named after Jules Grévy, a former king of France.
- The scientific name of the Grévy zebra is Equus Grévyi.
- Their stripes keep them warm or cold depending on the situation.
- Zebras court before mating.
- Grévy zebras weigh between 770 and 990 pounds.
- Mountain zebras weigh between 400 and 850 pounds.
- Plain zebras weigh between 400 and 800 pounds.
- Zebras live up to ten (10) or eleven (11) years.
