ZEBRA

Scientific Name:  Equus quagga

INTRODUCTION:

Zebras are several species of African equads (horse family) united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds. Unlike their closest relatives, horses and asses, zebras have never been truly domesticated.

FACT FILE:

Size                        : 45 to 55 inches at the shoulder (Burchell's); 50 to 60 inches (Grevy's).

                                                      

Weight: Burchell's: 485 to 550 pounds (Burchell's); 770 to 990 pounds (Grevy's).

                                     

Lifespan                 : 40 years in captivity. 

 

Head-Body Length: 1.9-2.4 m.

Shoulder height     : Males - 1.35 m (4ft 6in).

Weight                    : Males - 320 kg (700 lb.); Females - 260 kg (570lb).

Geographic Range: Eastern Africa; Southern Africa.

Habitat                    :Grassy plains, lightly wooded savannas, hills.

 Diet                        : grass, leaves, bark, sedges.

Identification          : The plains zebra has a white to yellowish coat with light to dark brown or black stripes. There is a great variation in stripe patterns among individuals and species. Zebras have a small erect mane that never falls to the side.

Gestation                : 12 months (Burchell's); 13 months (Grevy's).

 

Predators                : Lions, hyenas, hunting dogs, leopards, cheetahs.

Common Name      :  Plains zebra; Common zebra.

 

Swahili Name         : Punda Milia.

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION:

   # Kingdom : Animalia

           #Phylum : Chordata

                 #Class : Mammalia

                        #Order : Perissodactyla

                              #Family : Equidae

                                       #Genus : Equus

                                               #Genus Species : Equus burchelli

Physical Characteristics:

Zebras have shiny coats that dissipate over 70 percent of incoming heat, and some scientists believe the stripes help the animals withstand intense solar radiation. The black and white stripes are a form of camouflage called disruptive coloration that breaks up the outline of the body. Although the pattern is visible during daytime, at dawn or in the evening when their predators are most active, zebras look indistinct and may confuse predators by distorting true distance.

Zebras, horses and wild asses are all equids, long-lived animals that move quickly for their large size and have teeth built for grinding and cropping grass. Zebras have horselike bodies, but their manes are made of short, erect hair, their tails are tufted at the tip and their coats are striped.

Three species of zebra still occur in Africa, two of which are found in East Africa. The most numerous and widespread species in the east is Burchell's, also known as the common or plains zebra. The other is the Grevy's zebra, named for Jules Grevy, a president of France in the 1880s who received one from Abyssinia as a gift, and now found mostly in northern Kenya. (The third species, Equus zebra, is the mountain zebra, found in southern and southwestern Africa.)

The Burchell's zebra is built like a stocky pony. Its coat pattern can vary greatly in number and width of stripes. The stripes are a form of disruptive coloration which breaks up the outline of the body. At dawn or in the evening, when their predators are most active, zebras look indistinct and may confuse predators by distorting distance. Their shiny coats dissipate over 70% of incoming heat.

 Appearance:

The distinctive stripes of the Burchell's zebra run diagonally and lengthways on the rump and continue on to the belly. On the rump there are usually chestnut or yellowish "shadow" stripes in the middle of the white stripes. Like human fingerprints and irises, each individual has a unique stripe pattern.

The muzzle is black. A short, stiff mane runs down the back of the neck and the tail has a whisk of long black hair on the end.

Classification:

There are three extant species. Collectively, two of the species have eight subspecies (seven extant). Zebra populations are diverse, and the relationships between and the taxonomic status of several of the subspecies are not well known.

   # Genus: Equus 

   # Subgenus: Hippotigris

   # Plains Zebra, Equus quagga

   #  Quagga, Equus quagga quagga (extinct)

   # Burchell's Zebra, Equus quagga burchellii (includes Damara Zebra)

   # Grant's Zebra, Equus quagga boehmi

   # Selous' Zebra, Equus quagga borensis

   # Chapman's Zebra, Equus quagga chapmani

   # Crawshay's Zebra, Equus quagga crawshayi

   # Mountain Zebra, Equus zebra

   # Cape Mountain Zebra, Equus zebra zebra

   # Hartmann's Mountain Zebra, Equus zebra hartmannae

Behavior:

Active in the cooler early morning and late afternoon. Drinks at least once a day and has a strong preference for clean water.

Stallions fight viciously for control of females. Males that do not hold breeding herds join bachelor herds with hierarchy depending on age.

If threatened by predators, herds flee in tight bunches. Herd stallions defend their groups by running in the rear as they flee, kicking and biting attackers.

Predators are much more successful if an individual zebra can be separated from the herd. The contrasting black and white stripes may help to confuse predators. The Burchell's zebra’s social system is based on a harem of females led by a stallion. Stallions establish their harems by abducting fillies who have come into their first estrus. These fillies advertise their condition with a peculiar stance: straddled legs with raised tail and lowered head. All the stallions in the area will fight for a filly in this condition, as she will permanently stay with whichever stallion succeeds in mating with her. The newest female in a harem assumes lowest social status and is often received with hostility by the other females. Once a female has bonded to a stallion, she will no longer advertise herself when in estrus.

When a foal is born, the mother keeps all other zebras (even the members of her family) away from it for 2 or 3 days, until it learns to recognize her by sight, voice and smell.

While all foals have a close association with their mothers, the male foals are also close to their fathers. They leave their group on their own accord between the ages of 1 and 4 years to join an all-male bachelor group until they are strong enough to head a family.

Food and foraging:

The zebra, though water dependent, is a very adaptable grazer, able to eat both short young shoots and long flowering grasses. It is often a pioneer in the grassland community, the first to enter tall or wet pastures. Wildebeests and gazelle follow once the zebras have trampled and clipped the vegetation shorterTheir digestive systems allow them to subsist on diets of lower nutritional quality than that necessary for other herbivores. Zebras are avid grazers. Both Burchell's and Grevy's zebras are in constant search of green pastures. In the dry season, they can live on coarse, dry grass only if they are within a short distance (usually no farther than 20 miles away) of water holes. Zebras feed almost entirely on grasses, but may occasionally eat shrubs, herbs, twigs, leaves and bark.

Habitat:

Grevy's zebras are now mainly restricted to parts of northern Kenya. Although they are adapted to semi-arid conditions and require less water than other zebra species, these zebras compete with domestic livestock for water and have suffered heavy poaching for their meat and skins. 

Burchell's zebras inhabit savannas, from treeless grasslands to open woodlands; they sometimes occur in tens of thousands in migratory herds on the Serengeti plains.

Reproduction:

Plains and mountain zebra foals are protected by their mothers, as well as the head stallion and the other mares in their group. Grevy's zebra foals have only their mother as a regular protector, since, as noted above, Grevy's zebra groups often disband after a few months.Female zebras mature earlier than the males, and a mare may have her first foal by the age of three. Males are not able to breed until the age of five or six. Mares may give birth to one foal every twelve months. She nurses the foal for up to a year. Like horses, zebras are able to stand, walk and suckle shortly after they are born. A zebra foal is brown and white instead of black and white at birth. A single foal is born after a gestation period of one year. Seven to ten days after giving birth, females come into heat and will breed again. Foals are weaned when they are one year old. Single foals weighing 30-35kg (66-77lbs) are born at any time of year after a gestation of 360-390 days. Foals can stand after about 10 minutes, start eating grass within a few days and wean at 11 months.

Lions and spotted hyenas take adult zebras; foals are taken by lions, spotted hyenas, leopards and cheetahs.

Domestication:

Captain Horace Hayes, in "Points of the Horse" (circa 1893), compared the usefulness of different zebra species. In 1891, Hayes broke a mature, intact mountain zebra stallion to ride in two days time, and the animal was quiet enough for his wife to ride and be photographed upon. He found the Burchell's zebra easy to break, and considered it ideal for domestication, as it was immune to the bite of the tsetse fly. He considered the quagga (now extinct) well-suited to domestication due to being easy to train to saddle and harness.

Attempts have been made to train zebras for riding, since they have better resistance than horses to African diseases. Most of these attempts failed, though, due to the zebra's more unpredictable nature and tendency to panic under stress. For this reason, zebra-mules or zebroids (crosses between any species of zebra and a horse, pony, donkey or ass) are preferred over purebred zebras.

In England, the zoological collector Lord Rothschild frequently used zebras to draw a carriage. In 1907, Rosendo Ribeiro, the first doctor in Nairobi, Kenya, used a riding zebra for house calls. In the mid-19th century, Governor George Grey imported zebras to New Zealand from his previous posting in South Africa, and used them to pull his carriage on his privately owned Kawau Island.

Sounds:

The alarm call is a high-pitched, repeated two-syllable "kwa-hi". The sound is typical of the African bushveld and the colloquial name "quagga" is derived from it.Above information from The Ultimate Field Guide and other African mammal field guides.   

Senses: 

Zebras have excellent eyesight. It is believed that they can see in color. Like most ungulates, the zebra has its eyes on the sides of its head, giving it a wide field of view. Zebras also have night vision, although not as advanced as that of most of their predators.

Zebras have excellent hearing, and tend to have larger, rounder ears than horses. Like horses and other ungulates, zebra can turn their ears in almost any direction. In addition to eyesight and hearing, zebras have an acute sense of smell and taste.

Predators and Threats: 

Zebras are important prey for lions and hyenas, and to a lesser extent for hunting dogs, leopards and cheetahs. When a family group is attacked, the members form a semicircle, face the predator and watch it, ready to bite or strike should the attack continue. If one of the family is injured the rest will often encircle it to protect it from further attack.Like many species of East Africa’s grazing animals, the Burchell's zebra is most in danger of habitat loss and competition for water with livestock.

     

          That's it  about ZEBRA!!!!!!!!