Zebras (/zbr/ ZEB-r or /zibr/ ZEE-br)[1] are several species of African equids (horse

family) united by their distinctive black and white striped coats. Their stripes come in different
patterns, unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in
small haremsto large herds. Unlike their closest relatives, horses and donkeys, zebras have
never been truly domesticated.
There are three species of zebras: the plains zebra, the Grvy's zebra and the mountain
zebra. The plains zebra and the mountain zebra belong to the subgenus Hippotigris, but
Grvy's zebra is the sole species of subgenus Dolichohippus. The latter resembles an ass,
to which it is closely related, while the former two are more horse-like. All three belong to the
genus Equus, along with other living equids.
The unique stripes of zebras make them one of the animals most familiar to people. They
occur in a variety of habitats, such asgrasslands, savannas, woodlands,
thorny scrublands, mountains, and coastal hills. However, various anthropogenic factors
have had a severe impact on zebra populations, in particular hunting for skins and habitat
destruction. Grvy's zebra and the mountain zebra are endangered. While plains zebras are
much more plentiful, one subspecies, the quagga, became extinct in the late 19th century
though there is currently a plan, called the Quagga Project, that aims to breed zebras that
are phenotypically similar to the quagga in a process called breeding back.
Contents
[hide]

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

1 Etymology
2 Taxonomy and evolution
2.1 Classification
3 Physical attributes
3.1 Size and weight
3.2 Stripes
3.3 Gaits
3.4 Senses
3.5 Diseases
4 Ecology and behavior
4.1 Harems
4.2 Communication
4.3 Food and foraging
4.4 Reproduction
5 Interaction with humans
5.1 Domestication
5.2 Conservation
5.3 Cultural depictions
5.4 Biofuel
6 See also
7 References

8 Further reading
9 External links

Etymology
The name "zebra" in English dates back to c.1600, from Italian zebra, perhaps
from Portuguese, which in turn is said to be Congolese (as stated in the Oxford English
Dictionary). The Encarta Dictionary says its ultimate origin is uncertain, but perhaps it may
come from Latin equiferus meaning "wild horse"; from equus ("horse") and ferus ("wild,
untamed"). The word was traditionally pronounced with a long initial vowel, but over the
course of the twentieth century, the pronunciation with the short initial vowel became the
usual one in the UK and Commonwealth.[2] The pronunciation with a long initial vowel
remains standard in the United States.

Taxonomy and evolution

See also: Horse evolution

Zebras.

Zebras evolved among the Old World horses within the last 4 million years. It has been
suggested that zebras are polyphyletic and that striped equids evolved more than once.
Extensive stripes are posited to have been of little use to equids that live in low densities in
deserts (like asses and some horses) or ones that live in colder climates with shaggy coats
and annual shading (like some horses).[3]However, molecular evidence supports zebras as
a monophyletic linage.[4][5][6]

Classification

Zebras.

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

Subgenus: Dolichohippus

Grvy's zebra, Equus grevyi

A cream zebra in captivity

The plains zebra (Equus quagga, formerly Equus burchelli) is the most common, and has or
had about six subspecies distributed across much of southern and eastern Africa. It, or
particular subspecies of it, have also been known as the common zebra,
the dauw, Burchell's zebra (actually the subspecies Equus quagga burchellii), Chapman's
zebra, Wahlberg's zebra, Selous' zebra, Grant's zebra, Boehm's zebra and
the quagga (another extinct subspecies, Equus quagga quagga).
The mountain zebra (Equus zebra) of southwest Africa tends to have a sleek coat with a
white belly and narrower stripes than the plains Zebra. It has two subspecies and is
classified as vulnerable.
Grvy's zebra (Equus grevyi) is the largest type, with a long, narrow head, making it appear
rather mule-like. It is an inhabitant of the semi-arid grasslands of Ethiopia and
northern Kenya. Grvy's zebra is the rarest species, and is classified as endangered.
Although zebra species may have overlapping ranges, they do not interbreed. In captivity,
plains zebras have been crossed with mountain zebras. The hybrid foals lacked
a dewlap and resembled the plains zebra apart from their larger ears and their hindquarters
pattern. Attempts to breed a Grvy's zebra stallion to mountain zebra mares resulted in a
high rate of miscarriage. In captivity, crosses between zebras and other (nonzebra) equineshave produced several distinct hybrids, including the zebroid, zeedonk, zony,
and zorse. In certain regions of Kenya, plains zebras and Grvy's Zebra coexist, and fertile
hybrids occur.[7]

Physical attributes
Size and weight

The skull of a Grant's zebra.

The common plains zebra is about 5052 inches (12.213 hands, 1.3 m) at the shoulder with
a body ranging from 68.5 feet (22.6 m) long with an 18-inch (0.5 m) tail. It can weigh up to
770 pounds (350 kg), males being slightly bigger than females. Grvy's Zebra is
considerably larger, while the mountain zebra is somewhat smaller.[8]

Stripes

The black and white stripes may have one or several functions

It was previously believed that zebras were white animals with black stripes, since some
zebras have white underbellies. Embryological evidence, however, shows that the animal's
background color is black and the white stripes and bellies are additions. [3] It is likely that the
stripes are caused by a combination of factors.[9][10][11]
The stripes are typically vertical on the head, neck, forequarters, and main body, with
horizontal stripes at the rear and on the legs of the animal.
A wide variety of hypotheses have been proposed to account for the evolution of the striking
stripes of zebras. The more traditional of these (1 and 2, below) relate to camouflage.
1. The vertical striping may help the zebra hide in the grass by disrupting its outline. In
addition, even at moderate distances, the striking striping merges to an apparent grey.
2. The stripes may help to confuse predators by motion dazzlea group of zebras standing
or moving close together may appear as one large mass of flickering stripes, making it more
difficult for the lion to pick out a target.[12]
3. The stripes may serve as visual cues and identification. [3] Although the striping pattern is
unique to each individual, it is not known whether zebras can recognize one another by their
stripes.
4. Experiments by different researchers indicate that the stripes are effective in attracting
fewer flies, including blood-sucking tsetse fliesand tabanid horseflies.[9][13] A 2012 experiment
in Hungary showed that zebra-striped models were nearly minimally attractive to tabanid
horseflies. These flies are attracted to linearly polarized light, and the study showed that
black and white stripes disrupt the attractive pattern. Further, attractiveness increases with
stripe width, so the relatively narrow stripes of the three living species of zebras should be
unattractive to horseflies.[14][15]
5. Stripes may be used to cool the zebra.[10][16] Air may move more quickly over black lightabsorbing stripes while moving more slowly over white stripes. [10] This would create

convection currents around the zebra that would cool it. [10] One study analyzes that zebras
have more stripes in hotter habitats.[10]

Gaits
Zebras have four gaits: walk, trot, canter and gallop. They are generally slower than horses,
but their great stamina helps them outrun predators. When chased, a zebra will zig-zag from
side to side, making it more difficult for the predator to attack. When cornered, the zebra will
rear up and kick or bite its attacker.

Senses
Zebras have excellent eyesight. It is believed that they can see in color.[citation needed] Like
most ungulates, the zebra's eyes are 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.
[citation needed]

Zebras have excellent hearing and have larger, rounder ears than horses; like other
ungulates, zebras can turn their ears in almost any direction. In addition to superb eyesight
and hearing, zebras also have acute senses of smell and taste.

Diseases
Being an equid, zebras are subject to many of the same common infections and diseases of
the domestic horse.

Parasites:
Equid intestinal roundworms parascaris sp. and strongylus vulgaris
Roundworms of the lungs
Botfly larvae in the zebra's stomach
Lice
Mange
Ticks, which can serve as vectors for other diseases including Babesia

Salmonella infection of the intestine

Pneumonia and pleuritis

Acute heart lesions due to stress

Tetanus

Anthrax

Two Grevy's Zebras were poisoned in 1995 by leaves from a hybrid red maple tree (acer
rubrum) at the St. Louis Zoo. Horses were first reported in 1981 to be susceptible and
even a small amount of the leaves can be toxic to ponies. In 2000, a zebra was reported

to be infected with a nematode, halicephalobus, usually associated with decaying plant

material.[17]

Ecology and behavior

This section does not cite any references or
sources. Please help improve this section by adding
citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (March 2013)

Harems

Zebras

Like most members of the horse family, zebras are highly social. Their social structure,
however, depends on the species. Mountain zebras and plains zebras live in groups,
known as 'harems', consisting of one stallion with up to six mares and their foals.
Bachelor males either live alone or with groups of other bachelors until they are old
enough to challenge a breeding stallion. When attacked by packs ofhyenas or wild
dogs a zebra group will huddle together with the foals in the middle while the stallion
tries to ward them off.
Unlike the other zebra species, Grvy's zebras do not have permanent social bonds. A
group of these zebras rarely stays together for more than a few months. The foals stay
with their mothers, while adult males live alone. Like the other two zebra species,
bachelor male zebras will organize in groups.
Like horses, zebras sleep standing up, and only sleep when neighbors are around to
warn them of predators.

Communication

Zebra feeding on grass

Zebras communicate with each other with high-pitched barks and whinnying. Grvy's
zebras make mulelike brays. A zebra's ears signify its mood. When a zebra is in a calm,
tense or friendly mood, its ears stand erect. When it is frightened, its ears are pushed
forward. When angry, the ears are pulled backward. When surveying an area for
predators, zebras will stand in an alert posture with ears erect, head held high, and
staring. When tense, they will also snort. When a predator is spotted or sensed, a zebra
will bark (or bray) loudly.

Food and foraging

Zebras feed almost entirely on grasses, but may occasionally eat shrubs, herbs, twigs,
leaves and bark. Their digestive systems allow them to subsist on diets of lower
nutritional quality than that necessary for other herbivores.

Reproduction
Further information: Plains zebra Reproduction and Grvy's zebra Reproduction
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.
Plains and mountain zebra foals are protected by their mothers, as well as the head
stallion and the other mares in their group. Grvy's zebra foals have only their mother as
a regular protector, since, as noted above, Grvy's zebra groups often disband after a
few months.

Interaction with humans

Lord Rothschild with his famed zebra carriage (sp. Equus quagga burchellii), which he frequently
drove through London

Cavallery of Schutztruppe inGerman East Africa (1911)

Domestication
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 Walter 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.

Jumping an obstacle: riding a zebra in East Africa, about 1900

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.[18]

Conservation
Modern man has had great impact on the zebra population. Zebras were, and still are,
hunted for their skins, and for meat. They also compete with livestock for forage, [19] and
are sometimes culled.
The Cape mountain zebra was hunted to near extinction, with less than 100 individuals
by the 1930s. The population has since increased to about 700 due to conservation
efforts. Both mountain zebra subspecies are currently protected in national parks, but
are still endangered.

Zebras on the Botswana coat of arms.

The Grvy's zebra is also endangered. Hunting and competition from livestock have
greatly decreased their population. Because of the population's small size,
environmental hazards, such as drought, are capable of affecting the entire species.
Plains zebras are much more numerous and have a healthy population. Nevertheless,
they too have been reduced by hunting and loss of habitat to farming. One subspecies,
the quagga, is now extinct.

Cultural depictions
Zebras have been the subject of African folk tales which tell how they got their stripes.
According to a San folk tale of Namibia, the zebra was once all white, but acquired its
black stripes after a fight with a baboon over a waterhole. After kicking the baboon so
hard, the zebra lost his balance and tripped over a fire, and the fire sticks left scorch

marks all over his white coat.[20] In the film Fantasia, two centaurs are depicted being half
human and half zebra, instead of the typical half human and half horse. [21]

Illustration of a zebra from Ludolphus A new History of Ethiopia(1682).

Zebras are a popular subject in art.[22] The fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir (r.160524),
commissioned a painting of the zebra, which was completed by Ustad Mansur.[23] Zebra
stripes are also a popular style for furniture, carpets and fashion.
When depicted in movies and cartoons, zebras are most often miscellaneous characters,
but have had some starring roles, notably inMadagascar, Racing Stripes and Khumba.
One of the recurring characters in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a zebra named
Zecora. Zebras also serve as mascots and symbols for products and corporations,
notably Zebra Technologies and Fruit Stripe gum as well as Investec. Zebras are
featured on the coat of arms of Botswana.

Biofuel
Recent research has shown that TU-103, a strain of Clostridium bacteria found in Zebra
feces, can convert nearly any form of cellulose into butanol fuel.[24]

See also

Dazzle camouflage

Tijuana Zebra

Zebra crossing

References
1.

Jump up^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 2011-12-10.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.
9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.
18.

19.

20.
21.
22.
23.

24.

Jump up^ Wells, John (1997). "Our changing pronunciation". Transactions of the
Yorkshire Dialect Society: xix.4248. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
^ Jump up to:a b c Prothero D.R, Schoch R. M (2003). Horns, Tusks, and Flippers: The
Evolution of Hoofed Mammals. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Jump up^ Vilstrup, Julia T., et al (2013). "Mitochondrial Phylogenomics of Modern
and Ancient Equids". PLoS ONE 8 (2): e55950. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055950.
Jump up^ Forstn, Ann (1992). "MitochondrialDNA timetable and the evolution
of Equus: of molecular and paleontological evidence". Annales Zoologici Fennici 28:
301309.
Jump up^ Ryder, O. A.; George, M. (1986). "Mitochondrial DNA evolution in the
genus Equus".Molecular Biology and Evolution 3 (6): 535546.
Jump up^ Cordingley, J. E.; Sundaresan, S. R.; Fischhoff, I. R.; Shapiro, B.; Ruskey,
J.; Rubenstein, D. I. (2009). "Is the endangered Grevy's zebra threatened by
hybridization?". Animal Conservation 12 (6): 505. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00294.x.
Jump up^ "Zebras". The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. 2008. Retrieved 2011-05-16.
^ Jump up to:a b Gill, Victoria (2012-02-09) Zebra stripes evolved to keep biting flies at
bay, BBC News.
^ Jump up to:a b c d e Howard, Jacqueline (15 January 2015). "Scientists Offer Cool
New Theory About Zebra Stripes". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
Jump up^ Morell, Virginia (13 January 2015). "A new explanation for zebra
stripes". News. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
Jump up^ "How do a zebra's stripes act as camouflage?". How Stuff Works.
Retrieved2006-11-13.[dead link]
Jump up^ Waage, J. K. (1981). "How the zebra got its stripes: biting flies as
selective agents in the evolution of zebra colouration". J. Entom. Soc. South Africa 44:
351358.
Jump up^ Egri, dm; Mikls Blah; Gyrgy Kriska; Rbert Farkas; Mnika
Gyurkovszky; Susanne kesson and Gbor Horvth (March 2012). "Polarotactic
tabanids find striped patterns with brightness and/or polarization modulation least
attractive: an advantage of zebra stripes". The Journal of Experimental Biology 215 (5):
736745.doi:10.1242/jeb.065540.
Jump up^ Knight, Kathryn (2012). "How the Zebra Got Its Stripes". J Exp
Biol 215 (5): iii.doi:10.1242/jeb.070680.
Jump up^ Dell'Amore, Christine (14 January 2015). "Why Do Zebras Have Stripes?
New Study Makes Temperature Connection". National Geographic. Retrieved 16
January 2015.
Jump up^ "Grevy's Zebra Fact Sheet". San Diego Zoo. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
Jump up^ Hayes, Capt. Horace (1893), Points of the Horse, pp. 311316, London:
W. Thacker
Jump up^ Young, T.P., et al. (2005). "Competition and compensation among cattle,
zebras, and elephants in a semi-arid savanna in Laikipia, Kenya". Biological
Conservation 121 (2): 351359. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2004.08.007.
Jump up^ "How the Zebra Got his Stripes". Gateway Africa. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
Jump up^ Dirks, Tim. "Fantasia (1940)". Tim Dirks. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
Jump up^ "Zebra Art". Artists for Conservation. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
Jump up^ Cohen, M.J.; Major, John and Schama, Simon (2004) History in
Quotations:Reflecting 5000 Years of World History, Sterling Publishing Company,
Inc., ISBN 0-304-35387-6. p. 146.
Jump up^ Kathryn Hobgood Ray (August 25, 2011). "Cars Could Run on Recycled
Newspaper, Tulane Scientists Say". Tulane University. Retrieved March 14, 2012.