The art of Zebra Tanning
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Zebras at a water hole
Physical Characteristics
Zebras are all equids, long-lived animals that move quickly for their large size and have teeth built for grinding and cropping grass. Three species of Zebra still occur in Africa namely, most commonly found are the Burchell Zebra, the Mountain Zebra (otherwise known as the Hartman Zebra) and the Grevy Zebra which is found mostly in Eastern Africa.
Habitat
Burchell Zebras inhabit the plains and savannas of Africa whilst the Mountain Zebra are found in South Western parts of Southern Africa and normally found at the slopes and plateaus of mountains. The Grevy Zebra are now only found in parts of Northern Kenya.
Diet
Zebras are very adaptable grazers being able to eat both short and young shoots and even long flowering grass. The Zebra family is also dependent on water.
Behaviour
The Burchell zebra’s social system is based on a herd of female Zebras led by a stallion. The stallions establish their herds when the females come into their first estrus and then the stallions will fight amongst each other and the female will join the stronger stallion.
Predators and Threats
The main threats for the Zebras are the large cats, for example lions and leopards.
Curing methods for Zebra
The curing method for a Zebra is very important and should be ensured that it is done in a correct and manageable method.
Once a hunt is completed the skin should be removed immediately and the excess blood, dirt and unwanted fats removed especially the area around the mane, as this area tends to be very fatty and salt does not penetrate through the fat and thus leads to hair slip in the mane area. The inner lip and ear should also be removed to improve the salt penetration in this area. The skin should then be dipped into a biocide (kills Bacteria) for example: Dettol and left there for approximately 3-4 hours. Once this has taken place the skin can be placed flat, flesh side up on a clean floor and salted. One should use as a guide line for the volume of salt required, should be equivalent to that of the green weight of the skin or hide. One could also use some Boric Acid in this mixture. A typical curing solution would be as follows:
Zebra with hair slip in mane area
50 litres Cold Water
50 Kg Salt
250 Grams Dettol
100 Grams Boric Acid (if possible}
Mix the solution and add the skins and leave for 3-4 hours.
This would depend on the type of material one is working with and the condition of the material when received. The skin can be left on the ground in a cool dry place to dry and once semi-dried it can be transported to a registered tannery for processing.
The ideal situation is if one could have the skin suspended in a frame so it is also ventilated. The skin should also be salted as above and given time to penetrate before suspending it.
An alternative to this is once the skin has been dipped into a solution as described above, is to let it drip and add salt to the flesh side and fold the skin, flesh to flesh, until one has a “block shape”
The Don’ts of curing-
Do not leave excess dirt and blood on the skin
Do not store any skin for a lengthy period before having it transported to a registered tannery to process.
Be careful of flay cuts they have a tendency to tear once processing begins.
Never use old salt as this salt may have Halophilic bacteria (salt loving) and be the cause of Red Heat.
**Zebra poorly cured and defects- Zebra well salted and cured -
A: Case Hardening (Dried Out Patch) A: Color of flesh side uniform
B: Holes B: Not a lot of noticeable fat
C: Bloody area C: Dried grain to grain and well aerated
*D: Patch of dried fat
*E: Insufficient Salt****
Zebra Soaking
When a Zebra is soaked and the curing methods were insufficiently done, it is in this stage of the process that most of the damage with bacterial damage will occur. The tannery will put in a biocide but this only guarantees a limited success as once bacteria has started to damage the grain or the hair follicle it is very difficult to stop so the bactericide which applied is to prevent the further growth of bacteria rather than stopping the already active bacteria. Bacteria becomes dormant when the moisture is removed from the skin but once the skin is rehydrated the bacteria will become active again. A static soak is almost imperative for the first 12 hours before the vessel can be agitated at a slow speed for a short time of approximately 1-2 minutes. If a skin has salt burn, the soaking and even further processing will be very difficult for any penetration of any chemical to penetrate.
Zebra with severe hair slip after soaking
Zebra Pickling
Once the Zebra has been pickled the bacterial growth damage would have stopped due to the acidic state of the material. Only skins which were affected badly by hair slip after the soak will continue to lose hair where the follicle has been damaged. A Zebra also has a layer of cartilage which has to be removed during this stage so the subsequent stage of chemicals will penetrate across the cross section.
Zebra Tanning
It is normally in this stage that if a Zebra has a hole in it that it will tear. A Zebra’s tear strength is very weak because of the cartilage which has been removed. The tannery will put in specialized products to try and prevent this but once again it is only a preventative practice rather than a guarantee that the skin will not tear. The tannery also stitches the skins where possible to try and prevent this.
Zebra torn after tanning from a hole in the skin
Conclusion
Zebra tanning is a very delicate process and requires time and patience. The guarantee for a good tanned zebra skin has to start with good management from when the skin is skinned until it is processed.
A well tanned Zebra skin
