Interesting facts about zebras

FEW animals are as striking as the zebra in a purely visual sense. Giant pandas, penguins, and skunks may share the same bold colour combination, but the zebra’s contrasting stripes make it an animal that stands out from the crowd. Here are a few interesting things you may not know about the extraordinary zebra.

Zebras are herbivores, which means they eat plants, grass and roots.

There are three different species of zebra that can be found in eastern and southern Africa. The plains zebra, Grevy’s zebra, which is also known as the Imperial Zebra, and the mountain zebra.

Zebras belong to the Equidae family, which is sometimes known as the horse family. The animals within this group are horses, donkeys and zebras.

Each zebra species has its own general stripe pattern and more impressively, each zebra has a unique stripe pattern. This makes zebra stripes as unique as snowflakes or human fingerprints.

The plains zebra has broader stripes than the other two species. The mountain zebra normally has vertical stripes on its neck and torso, while horizontal stripes cover its legs. Grévy’s zebras are usually taller, have larger ears, and their stripes are narrower.

Their coats’ black and white striped pattern is a good bug repellent, keeping horseflies and other blood-suckers at bay. Scientists also believe that their stripes act as sunscreen or camouflage.

While black and white may not seem like a particularly good option for camouflage, most of the zebras’ predators, such as lions, are colourblind. So zebras bunch together to confuse colourblind predators, which mistake the striped pattern as grass.

Zebras have excellent eyesight and are one of the few mammals that can see in colour. However, zebras cannot see the colour orange.

Zebras are social animals and can often be found in large groups. The collective name for a group of zebras has various words; it is sometimes known as a dazzle of zebras, a zeal of zebras, or simply a herd of zebras.

A male zebra is called a stallion, a female zebra is known as a mare, and baby zebras are called foals, although sometimes young zebras are known as cubs. Also, to confuse things even more, a baby zebra is called a filly if it is female and a colt if it is male.

When a mother zebra gives birth, she will usually keep her foal away from all other zebras for two or three days until the foal can recognise her scent, voice and appearance.

Zebras have an extremely powerful kick. They are able to kick with nearly 1 361kg of force, which is strong enough to kill a fully grown lion, with just a single blow to the body.

To sleep, generally, zebras don’t lie down — instead, they usually sleep standing up. —