Horse Like Animals: July 2012

Young Zebra vs African Lioness

Zebra Wins!!!

Fun facts You Should Know about Zebra

zebra love

You can never mistake a zebra for another animal with its unique black and white stripes. Every zebra has its own set of stripes that will always be different from the rest. This is very similar to our own fingerprints. They eat grasses, leaves, fruits, and roots. Zebras tend to stay in herds and even group themselves into different families in a herd. The zebra family usually consists of a male, some females, and their offspring. Zebras can run 40 miles per hour and their young can already run an hour after they are born. There are three different zebra species: the Plains, Grevy’s, and the Mountains Zebra.

Facts about the Three Zebra Species

zebras

The zebra is a lovely and wild animal that is native to Africa. Its black and white stripes are unique to each zebra and works like a human’s fingerprint. There are three species of zebras: the Mountain Zebra, the Plains Zebra, and the Grevy’s Zebra. Both the plains and mountain zebras have horse-like features while the Grevy’s is very similar to an ass. The plains zebra is the most common type of zebra and has 12 subspecies. The Grevy’s are rare and wild zebras. They are also the largest. The Grevy’s and the Mountain zebras are endangered. This is caused by the destruction of their natural habitat and hunting.

Loving the Animals of Africa and its Zebras

Picture: Zebras in Africa

There is an old African folktale called “how the zebra got its stripes”. It talks about the first zebras and donkeys were still brother and sisters, but one day the king of all the animals invited the two brothers to a feast. Naturally the two brothers also wanted to join the feast; the only problem is that they had plain brown hides. Then they planned to beautify themselves by painting each other, zebra got to go first so donkey painted him with black and white stripes, but when he finished his brother quickly ran away and did not come back. They became bitter enemies and that is why zebras and donkeys have their colors today.

Zebra Noises

Evolution of Environments and Animals are Epic

The elephant, the rhino, man and the zebra can all be found in the cradle of life called Africa. Some now believe, with the use of paleontology and anthropology that all of humanity came from one place, Africa. Our ancestors, those who first stood upright and walked with two legs spread all over the earth during the ice age. This was the time of nomads and scarce resources, which is one of the reasons why the earliest human beings first ventured forth from the world and reached every corner of the globe. Adapting to changing environments and even crossing great oceans to what we are today indeed they were the greatest pioneers of history.

The lost quagga and man

quagga

The Quagga is a subspecies of the plains zebra, they were indigenously found in the Highveld of the Cape Province and the southern part of the Orange Free State in South Africa. They are distinguished from zebras because of the differences of their hides; the common zebra had a black and white stripe pattern and the cages only had that pattern on the front part of the body, in the mid section the stripes faded and became wider until the rear became plain brown. They were known to move in great numbers and were totally wiped out in the late 19th century, thus they were added to the hall of man’s folly.

Beginning with the zebra fish

Zebra Fish

The zebra fish, with the scientific name of Danio Rerio is a fresh water fish that is very popular among aquarium enthusiasts. They are originally found in streams in the southeastern part of the Himalayan region and some parts of Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma. They are called zebra fish because of five uniform, pigmented, horizontal, blue stripes on the sides of their bodies. They are an omnivorous type of fish, and they primarily eat zooplanktons, small insects, insect larvae and phytoplankton. Zebra fish are a very durable and hardy fish; they are very good for beginners.

The Great Native African horse

African Zebra

The zebra is a common animal that is associated with Africa, they are indigenous to that continent but they can actually be seen in zoos all over the world. This is understandable because they are easy to take care of, and eat almost any type of grasses and leaves. They are given vitamin and mineral supplements by the zoo keepers to keep them healthy; some are being kept warm indoors during winter. Because of these there are now cases that zebra breeding in captivity since the earliest part of the 20th century. They are truly a sight to behold when in great numbers and treasures of nature.

Young Zebra vs African Lioness

Learning the Way a Zebra Communicates in the Wild

zebra love

Have you ever wondered how a zebra communicate with other animals in the wild? This African equid specie usually converse with one another using high pitched barks. Moreover, you can check its mood through its ears. If the ears are upright, then that particular zebra is in a happy or friendly mood. If they are angry, you can see its ears pulling backward. If the ears are pushed forward, then it is scared. They even snort if they are tensed. If you can spot a zebra in a vigilant pose, then it is checked out for predators. But if it has spotted one, you’ll be able to hear it bark thunderously.

The Zebra Conservation Efforts in South Africa

zebras and giraffes

The zebra species have been hunted since time immemorial by humans for food, clothing and other necessary raw materials. As far as fashion is concerned, the Zulu are among the oldest cultures that maintain their fashion sense of dressing up zebra fur. Even traditional Zulu warriors had layered zebra leather for shields and it proved substantially effective against their wars with the Dutch colonial ethnicity centuries ago.

Zebras and Giraffes

But nowadays the zebras have recently recovered from near extinction due to humanity’s incessant demands. Efforts were made to make sure the zebra species continue to replenish their gene pool, even despite cultural and economic motivators to profit from their wholesale death. The quagga zebra sub-specie is extinct.

The Threats it Faces?

The zebra is facing a lot of threats in its natural habitat. The Grevy’s zebra in particular is the most threatened among the other zebra species. They are also the largest wild species in the horse family. Human encroachment is the main threat to the zebras. Different livestock is already raised in the same area where the zebras naturally live. Land conversion to agriculture is also another aspect of it. Because of this, there is a competition for food and resources. This sad truth has forced the zebras out of its natural habitat to look for food. Another factor that has been affecting zebras is poaching.