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The zebra is a striped, horselike animal found wild in Africa. It stands 4 to 5 feet high at the withers. The zebra differs from all other members of the horse family because of its startling color pattern. It has parallel black or dark-brown stripes on a whitish background arranged in exact designs. These stripes run all over its body, meeting diagonally down the sides of the head. The lines may appear even on the zebra's long ears, short thick mane, and down its tail to the tuft of hair. The lines help to hide the zebra from its enemies.
The zebra's chief foe is the lion. Some kinds of zebras live on open grassy plains, and some in rough mountains. Zebras are grazing animals. They live together in small bands, each one of which is led by a stallion. Zebras are savage fighters and extremely wild. They are difficult to tame and train to work, because they are less gentle than horses and more stubborn. They are sometimes tamed in South Africa because they appear immune to the disease nagana, which attacks most domesticated animals in Africa. Nagana is carried by the tsetse fly.
Until a little more than a hundred years ago, great numbers of zebras lived over most of the eastern part of Africa, from southern Egypt to Cape Colony. They were killed for their meat and for their hides. Their meat is said to have an excellent taste and their hides make a tough leather. Some kinds of zebras were killed off and others were greatly reduced in number.
Scientific Classification. The zebra belongs to the family Equidae. It is genus Equus. The three species are E. zebra, E. bontequagga, and E. greuyi.
The World Book Encyclopedia, Volume 19
Burchell's zebras (Equus burchelli)
Burchell's zebras have little difficulty finding or identifying their mothers in a group, and can locate them quickly by means of smell or near-instant recognition of subtle differences in the pattern of stripes on their coats.
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