Animal Fact Sheet
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Grevy’s Zebra
Equus grevyi
What does it look
like?
The term "zebra" has no taxonomic meaning and may come
from a Hebrew world, "tzebi" meaning splendor or beauty.
The zebras black and white striping make them among the most striking
members of the equine or horse family.
What does it look
like? Like all equids, zebras have:
- Long heads and necks
- Slender legs and hoofed feet
- Are herbivorous
- Moderately large, erect ears that are quite mobile for locating
sounds as well as sending visual signals to other zebras
- Their eyes, set back in their skulls, gives them a wide field
of vision
- Long tails tipped with tufts of hair
The Grevy's zebra has narrow, vertical black
and white stripes on their bodies, white bellies and prominent,
erect manes. These animals are the largest of the three species
of zebra, and the most desert-adapted.
The reason for the stripes is unknown. One theory
is that when a zebra herd is in motion, stripes make individual
body outlines difficult for predators to pinpoint. Similarly, when
zebras gather at water holes at dawn and dusk, stripes make them
hard to see in the dim light. Essentially, where does the zebra's
body start and where does it end? Since stripes vary between species
and individuals, they may also serve as identification, like fingerprints.
Striping may also help to keep herds together, as studies have shown
that zebras are attracted by stripes, even artificial ones.
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| Where
in the world?
Grevy's zebras live in semiarid, thorny, scrub-brush regions and
along sub-desert steppes of northern Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia.
Their territory overlaps with Plains zebras, although very little
interaction occurs between the two species.
What are some behaviors?
Because they live in dry, sparsely vegetated areas, Grevy's zebras
have a different social grouping than the stallion-harem arrangement,
which requires more abundant resources to support. For the most
part, females and foals live in one group, bachelor males in another.
All may join up into large mixed herds in search of food and water,
and may travel through larger territories belonging to individual
stallions.
Grevy's zebra stallions live alone within large
territories of up to four square miles, marking their territories
with dung. They form temporary relations with females in estrus
that happen to wander through their territories.
Typically, daughters remain with their mothers
creating close kin groups. Young females emigrate when they become
sexually mature at about 2 years of age. Males disperse by the fourth
year to form bachelor groups, until they can defend their own territories.
What about offspring?
In Grevy's zebras, gestation lasts slightly longer than 1 year (400
days). Although females come into heat, sometimes referred to as
foal heat, 7 to 10 days after bearing a foal and can mate again,
most skip a year because of the strain of rearing foals. Offspring
are born during renewed vegetation growth. Newborns are up and about
within an hour of birth. Within a few weeks they begin grazing but
generally are weaned after 8 to 13 months. |
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What does it eat?
Grevy's zebras are monograstric, meaning "one stomach".
They forage primarily on grasses, but will consume bark, leaves,
buds, fruit and roots. Their well adapted digestive system allows
them to subsist in marginal habitats on diets of lower quality than
that necessary for ruminants. When vegetation is plentiful, zebras
spend about 60% of the day grazing, and up to 80% when food becomes
scarce.
Is it threatened
or endangered?
All wild equids are in precarious states due to loss of habitat,
through agriculture and domestic livestock overgrazing. Although
Plains zebras are plentiful in their natural habitat, Grevy's zebra
populations are endangered because of agricultural and livestock
expansion, as well as being hunted for their beautiful coats. It
is estimated that less than 3,000 remain in the wild.
The Living Desert does participate in the Grevy's
Zebra Species Survival Plan (SSP) by holding a breeding group in
our collection. |
