Zebras as we can all see look a lot like houses and donkeys, with a difference; they have black and white stripes. Each Zebra has its unique stripe print (just like a human finger print). The stripes allow them to camouflage themselves in long grass.
Zebras love living in flocks and are family orientated .However like all wildlife, Zebras will fight for territory .They will look after each other and use there hide legs to kick the enemy. Some people believe there kick is the most dangerous kick in the animal world . There are many cases where lions will loose the battle, have a look at the video below.
To show their dominance they have a kick out with a challenger. The winner gets the lovely female. In the video below after a night out with the females they leave. This is not the norm.
It takes a zebra around 11-12 months to give birth to a newborn or a foal. Normally, only one is born at a time. A baby zebra is born with their stripes; however the white stripe is more beige-brown and later changes to white. Unlike humans the babies will walk within the first hour after birth and start grazing on their own within 15 days.
video on Zebra giving birth
An adult Zebra will live on average in the wild for 25 years and 40 years in captivity. Some believe on average the male zebra will have 5-7 kids, will weigh around 350kg and run speeds of 65kmh. Normal ,when it comes to speed we say ‘speed to kill’ not so for a zebra ,speed is used to save themselves for being killed.
Grass, weeds and twigs are their stable diet. On occasions they might have a fruit or two. Their foal will suckle for 6-8 months depending on how grass they can eat.
The world has basically 3 species of zebras, the mountain zebra, plains zebra and Grevy’s zebra. The mountain zebra and plains zebra are more alike as they come from the subgenus Hippotigris family, whereas the Grevy zebra comes from Dolichohippus family. The differences between the species are more ecstatic, the Grevy zebra has thin straight-esh lines where as the mountain zebra has a more darker distinct black lines and the plains specie have a grey line between the white and black line.
Whatever the specie Zebras are a wonderful animal to see and enjoy what the Almighty has greated
