The stripy horse that we learn in English alphabets actually has a lot of fascinating things to know. Zebras are one cool animal in the animal kingdom that many people find beautiful and eye-catching. Apart from their looks, zebras also have a lot of facts and things that you will find even more interesting. Each fact about zebras in our list today will tell you more features about this awesome animal. You might already know some, so let’s find out together about the ones that you don’t know about with us.
Zebra Facts
- There are three species of zebra in the wild, and you can only find them in Africa. Those species are Burchell’s Zebra aka Plain Zebra, Grevy’s Zebra which is named after a 19th-century president, and Equus Zebra. All three of them belong to the genus Equus which includes horses and donkeys.
- Each species of zebra has different types of stripes which varied in width and pattern distribution. Just like our human fingerprints, no zebra has the same stripes as each other. More than that, the further south of the African plains they live, the further apart their stripes will be.
- Zebras are social animals, and they live in small family groups that combine into large herds. Even when grouped in a massive swath of other zebras, they remain close to their families still. Long thing short, zebras always stick to their family members no matter how many they are.
- Another cool thing is that zebras always be there for each other even in their worse situations. Each zebra always stays on the watch for lions and hyenas, and the herd helps with all of its extra eyes. That is to monitor for danger in case any predators come from any direction to prey on them. Also, if a zebra is attacked, other zebras will come to its defense and form a circle around it to ward off the predator. That is super cool, we all want friends like a group of zebras.
- Zebras are often found mingling with antelope herds in order to add extra protection against threats. It is like the more the members, the less likely they are to face attack by predators.
- We have been cross-breeding zebras with other equines since the 19th century at least. We called the result Zebroids, but there are also more names like Zedonk, Zorse, Zebrule, and Zonkey. By the name, you can tell what breed people crossed the zebras with, right?
- Zebras don’t run as quickly as horses, their maximum speed is only about 35mph. The main things that enable them to survive predators are their excellent endurance and their zigzagging gait. Those two skills help them to better evade predators, and that usually works which is great.
- When cornered, a zebra rears, kicks, and bites in defense. Just so you know, zebras are one of the animals with the strongest kicks in the world, and there have been cases of them killing lions. That usually happens by their swift kick to the head of their predators which leaves either death or broken jaws. And those broken jaws can’t hunt which results in starvation and even a more dreadful death.
- Humans have tried several times to domesticate zebras, but these stripy horses have been resistant to domestication efforts. Actually, they are also aggressive which is somehow not suitable to live among other animals with us. When come to think of it, zebras are not docile. Not to mention that they have killed and injured lions, definitely not something we really want.
- Zebra foals aka baby zebras can get up and walk for about 20 after minutes right after they are born. Yup, zebras are that strong and cool.
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