This Month’s Animal of the Month is the Zebra. Zebras are equines with a distinctive black and white coat. They share their linage with horses, but their coats are individual to each animal to help the zebras recognize each other. The stripes are also useful to confuse predators and biting insects, and to control the animal’s body heat.
According to Wikipedia, the zebra is native to eastern and southern Africa and can be found in the savannah’s, woodland’s Grasslands, and mountainous areas. They are grazers and feed on low quality vegetation, but they will opportunistically consume bark, leaves, buds, fruits, and roots. Zebras have a simpler and less efficient digestive system. They typically spend 60–80% of their time feeding, depending on the availability of vegetation.
As with all wild equines, zebra have barrel-chested bodies with tufted tails, elongated faces, and long necks with long manes. The eyes of zebras are at the sides and far up the head, which allows them to look over the tall grass while feeding. Their moderately long ears are movable and can locate the source of a sound. Unlike horses, zebras have longer front legs than back legs.
Zebras typically are between 85 and 57 inches tall and can weigh up to 849 pounds.
The Zebras coat appears to be white with black stripes, as indicated by the belly and legs when unstriped, but the skin is black. Zebra foals are born with brown and white coats, and the brown darkens with age.
Zebras may migrate to wet areas during the dry season. Plains zebras have the longest land migration of any mammal in Africa. Plains zebras are more water-dependent and live in moister environments than other species. Mountain zebras can be found at elevations of up to 6,600 ft. Zebras sleep for seven hours a day, standing up during the day and lying down during the night.
Locally, you can see zebra at the Bee City Zoo.
