Zebras are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three extant species: the Grévy’s zebra, plains zebra and the mountain zebra. Zebras share the genus Equus with horses and asses, the only living members of the family Equidae.
About Zebra in brief
Zebras are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three extant species: the Grévy’s zebra, plains zebra and the mountain zebra. Zebras share the genus Equus with horses and asses, the three groups being the only living members of the family Equidae. A zebra’s dazzling stripes make them among the most recognisable mammals. They have been featured in art and stories in Africa and beyond. Historically, they have been highly sought after by exotic animal collectors, but unlike horses and donkeys, zebras have never been truly domesticated. The English name \”zebra\” dates back to c. 1600, deriving from Italian, Spanish or Portuguese. The extinct quagga was originally classified as a distinct species. Later genetic studies have placed it as the same species as the plainsZebra. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the plains Zebra as endangered, the mountainZebra as vulnerable and the plains zebra as near-threatened. Zebra stripes come in different patterns, unique to each individual. Several theories have been proposed for the function of these stripes, with most evidence supporting them as a form of protection from biting flies. The zebra is primarily grazers and can subsist on lower-quality vegetation. They are preyed on mainly by lions and typically flee when threatened but also bite and kick.
They can be found in a variety of habitats such as savannahs, grasslands, woodlands, shrublands and mountainous areas. A group of ze bras is referred to as a herd, dazzle, or zeal. The word \”Zebra\” was traditionally pronounced with a long initial vowel, but over the course of the 20th century the pronunciation with the short initial vowel became the norm in the UK and the Commonwealth. The origins of the word may lay in the Latin equiferus meaning \”wild horse\”; from equus and ferus. Equiferus appears to have entered into Portuguese as ezebro or zebro, which was originally a name for a mysterious equine in the wilds of the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. The plains Zebra is more closely related to Grévy’s zebra than the mountain Mountain zebra, according to a 2013 phylogenetic study. The plains zebra was traditionally placed in the subgenus Hippotigris, in contrast to the mountain zebra which was considered the sole species of Dolichohippus. Social grooming strengthens social bonds in plains and mountain zebra species. The wild zebra lives in stable harems consisting of an adult male or stallion, several adult females or mares, and their young or foals. In harem-holding species, adult females mate only with their harem stallion while male Grévys zebrs establish territories which attract females and the species is promiscuous.
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This page is based on the article Zebra published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
