Zebra Facts

The name "zebra" comes from the Old Portuguese word zevra, which means "wild ass". International pronunciation tends to be ‘ZEB-ra’ and in North America it is pronounced ‘ZEE-bra’.

With their distinctive white and black stripes, zebras have eye-catching patterns which are individually unique to them as our fingerprints are to us. They possess many similarities to horses albeit on a smaller scale with upright manes like mohawks and shorter tails and they are only found in Africa.

Like horses, they have a keen sense of hearing, zebras ears being larger and rounder which can turn in almost any direction. The position of their ears is a strong indication of their mood - another characteristic that zebras and horses share. For instance, when zebras are distressed, they flick their ears back and forth just as a horse does. 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 and they snort when they are tense.

Zebras also have excellent eyesight, including night vision abilities although this aspect is not quite as advanced as other predators. They quickly pick up the “danger” status of any disturbance through their acute sense of sight and sound. And if they spot or sense a predator, it is not uncommon for a zebra to communicate via loud barking (or braying).

In terms of what zebras eat, they feed mainly on grasses but will also eat shrubs, herbs, twigs, leaves and bark. Their digestive system allows them to subsist on diets of lower nutritional quality than that necessary for herbivores and they spend over half their time grazing.

The movement of zebras is the same as horses with the same gaits i.e. they walk, trot, canter and gallop. To conserve energy they walk most of the time and when in danger, they can reach a top speed of around 55km/h to outpace a predator. Their stamina and zig-zag running motion from side to side, assists in outdistancing their enemies. If zebras are cornered, they rear or kick out with their hooves or bite the attacker.

More About Zebra Stripes

The following excerpt from Wikipedia, gives an interesting explanation of the striped pattern on zebras:

“Zebras are black or dark animals with white stripes and their bellies have a large white blotch for camouflage purposes. Some zebras have brown "shadow stripes" in between the white and black coloring.

Zebras are described as black with white stripes rather than the reverse for the following three reasons: 

1. White equids would not survive well in the African plains or forests. 
2. The quagga, an extinct Plains zebra subspecies, had the zebra striping pattern in the front of the animal, but had a dark rump. 
3. When the region between the pigmented bands becomes too wide, secondary stripes emerge, as if suppression was weakening. 

The fact that some zebras have pure white bellies and legs is not very strong evidence for a white background, since many animals of different colors have white or light colored bellies and legs. 

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. The "zebra crossing" is named after the zebra's black and white stripes. 

Some zoologists believe that the stripes act as a camouflage mechanism. This is accomplished in several ways. First, the vertical striping helps the zebra hide in grass. While seeming absurd at first glance considering that grass is neither white nor black, it is supposed to be effective against the zebra's main predator, the lion, which is color blind. Theoretically a zebra standing still in tall grass may not be noticed at all by a lion. Additionally, since zebras are herd animals, the stripes may help to confuse predators - a number of zebras standing or moving close together may appear as one large animal, making it more difficult for the lion to pick out any single zebra to attack. A herd of zebras scattering to avoid a predator will also represent to that predator a confused mass of vertical stripes travelling in multiple directions making it difficult for the predator to track an individual visually as it separates from its herdmates, although biologists have never observed lions appearing confused by zebra stripes. 

Stripes are also believed to play a role in sexual attractions, with slight variations of the pattern allowing the animals to distinguish between individuals.

A more recent theory, supported by experiment, posits that the disruptive colouration is also an effective means of confusing the visual system of the blood-sucking tsetse fly. Alternative theories include that the stripes coincide with fat patterning beneath the skin, serving as a thermoregulatory mechanism for the zebra, and that wounds sustained disrupt the striping pattern to clearly indicate the fitness of the animal to potential mates.” 

Did You Know?

Romans called Grevy's zebras 'hippotigris' and trained them to pull two-wheeled carts for exhibition in circuses.

Test your knowledge with this Quiz

• White with black stripes?
  
  Is a zebra white with black stripes or black with white stripes?
• Striping pattern development
  
  The development of striping patterns.
• Differences between species
  
  Differences between the species.
• Domestication of Zebras
  
  Domestication of zebras.
• Hybrid Equines
  
  Hybrid equines.
• Rapid Evolution of the Quagga
  
  How a zebra lost its stripes.
• Zebra Mutations
  
  Zebras with some unusual quirks in their stripey pattern.