What is zebra

However a DNA study in argues against the subspecies structure in plains zebra. Zebras are widespread across vast areas of southern and eastern Africa, where they live in their preferred habitat of treeless grasslands and savannah woodlands.

The offspring zebroids have different names dependent on the parents. A male zebra and female horse produces a zorse, and a female zebra and male horse produces hebra. Zebras can also breed with donkeys , to produce a zedonk. Offspring of all crossovers are sterile, as zebras, horses and donkeys have different numbers of chromosomes. It would be possible to ride a zebra, but definitely not recommended. Zebras also have very different temperaments to horses. Zebras have been known to kick each other to death, they will viciously bite any human that comes too close, and there are even many accounts of zebras killing lions.

Zebras are herbivores, eating grass, foliage, and various shrubs. Depending on the species, a zebra may be adapted more for the open plain, or for more heavily wooded and mountainous areas. In all cases, zebras are very social animals, living in large herds which are typically overseen by a single stallion. A zebra's gestation period lasts 13 months, typically producing a single foal which may join the herd when it reaches adulthood, or strike out on its own to find another group of zebras.

Several attempts have been made to domesticate the zebra, with some animals being trained as riding or driving animals. However, zebras appear to be too unpredictable and flighty to fully domesticate, despite the best efforts of intrepid riders. So it depends on how you look at it! So, why the stripes? They serve as a kind of protection from predators! When zebras are grouped together, their combined stripes make it hard for a lion or leopard to pick out one zebra to chase.

Different zebra species have different types of stripes, from narrow to wide. In fact, the farther south on the African plains you travel, the farther apart the stripes on the zebras get! The basic form of zebras—a large head, sturdy neck, long legs, a dorsal stripe along the spine and down a tasseled tail, and bristly mane—is universal.

No zebra, or other wild equid, has a forelock. A mountain zebra has vertical stripes on the neck and torso, which graduate to wider—and fewer—horizontal bars on the haunches. It has a gridiron pattern on the rump, and its white underside has a dark stripe that runs the length of the belly. The plains zebra is the most abundant and the smallest of the three zebra species. Mountain zebras, as their name implies, inhabit rocky, arid slopes in Namibia and Angola.

Plains zebras, which are the most abundant of the three zebra species, are found from the grasslands of East Africa to the scrubby woodlands of southern Africa. Zebras are herbivores and feed mostly by grazing on grasses, although they also might browse a bit on the leaves and stems of bushes. They graze for many hours each day, using their strong front teeth to clip off the tips of the grass. Their back teeth then crush and grind the food.

Spending so much time chewing wears the teeth down, so those teeth keep growing all their lives. Breadcrumb Wildlife Conservation Zebra. What is a plains zebra? Scientific Name. Equus Quagga. About 1. Grasslands and savannas. Lions, cheetahs, hyenas, hunting dogs, leopards, humans. Coats dissipate. Will migrate up to. Native to over. African countries. Challenges Habitat loss and competition with livestock threaten plains zebras.