Plain Zebra
Scientific Name: Common Zebra (Equus burchelli) Family: Equidae(horses)Home: Savanna grasslands of eastern Africa and aridlandDescription: Sleek, plump, short-legged horse with broad black and white stripes, black nose, and a short, bristle-like mane that stands up Population: 600-700 in the wild
The plains zebra grazes two-thirds of the day on red oat grass, leaves, bark, roots and stems. Excellent hearing and vision help a zebra to keep alert for predators like lions and hyenas. Zebras stay in family groups of a stallion, or male, and several mares, but different families will come together in huge herds of hundreds of zebras. Herds will mingle with wildebeests, ostriches, and antelope while they graze, and even come to depend on them as additional protection against predators! Members of the genus Equus(horses,donkeys and zebras) can live 25 to 45 yaers. Zebras are always busy and alert, and very noisy – – they make a lot of sounds!
Zebras are only about four feet tall at the shoulder! (Head and body length is 6.5 to 8 feet (2 to 2.5m) or tail length is 18.5 to 22 inches (47 to 56cm), weight – 385 to 850 pounds (175 to 385kg)).
Zebras communicate with each other! Mother zebras whinney when seperated from their foals (young mountain zebras), or babies, and nicker to warn of danger. The zebra alarm is a yelping bark they all make as they run away!
Stripes make a zebra feel right at home — zebra stripes help to keep zebras in close-knit groups! Stripes may also help to confuse predators, but they encourage zebras to make friends with each other!
How the Zebra got its Stripes Zebras, many years ago were not black and white. They were white. Some would say that they were a mixture between a white horse, and a donkey or mule. People at this time were still trying to domesticate (or train) wild horses so they could show them off, and prance around on them since they were so beautiful.
Now zebras were called zebras since they were a bit different from horses, and mules. But it was very difficult to catch, and train a zebra. One day a zebra which was still very young, wondered off into the village. Many people started to stare and whisper about how they would catch it. The zebra became alarmed, and realized what they would try to do. So he frantically began to run. People started to run inside to get a net to catch the zebra with. He ran and ran. Finally he had an idea. He found some black paint, and tipped it out of the pot that it was in. It splattered out into little wavy lines. So he rolled in it until his body was covered with black stripes. He did this thinking that it would make him ugly. The people of the village finally found him, and realized what he had done to himself. They didn’t think that he was pretty any more since he had black blurry stripes all over him. So they let him go. Soon all zebras did that so that people would leave them alone. Then gradually they didn’t need too. Zebras started to be born like that except they were beautiful.