5 Interesting Facts on the Zebra

The zebra is a creature that draws the interest of people because of its unusual coat of black and white stripes. Other than their physical appearance, most people do not know much about the zebra. A fact that tends to surprise people is that there is not just one zebra; there are actually three different main kinds. The three sorts of zebras are the Grevy’s zebra, which lives mainly in Kenya, the second (the kind that is most often seen), the Burchell’s, and the third kind is a mountain zebra typically found in Africa, called the Equus. The Burchell’s zebra actually has two sub-types of its own, the Grant’s zebra and the Chapman’s.

A second interesting fact regarding zebras is just how important their family group is to them. With the birth of a new foal, the mother keeps it with her only for about three days just to let it become used to her smell, sight and voice before meeting any other members of the family. When attacked, all zebras will face down the predator in a half-circle rather than leaving any member who may be lagging behind for the predator. Instead, should one of them be attacked, all of the zebras will stand around that one in order to protect it from the predator.

That is not all, either. There are other facts about zebras that are very interesting, regarding their stripes. The stripes of a zebra are not all the same, even though they may appear that way from a distance. Actually, the truth is that the pattern of a zebras stripes are extremely distinguishing, they could be compared to people’s fingerprints because they are so distinct from zebra to zebra, right down to the patterns and widths of the stripes.

While they may not look like it, mountain zebras have the ability to climb quite well. Since they live in mountains areas, they are made for navigating the mountain slopes that they live in. Their hooves are perfect for mountains, hard and pointed, and allow them to climb up to two thousand miles above sea level.

A fifth and final interesting fact about zebras is that even though they are animals that live in the wild and are not generally kept as pets or in captivity outside of zoos, the zebra is part of the same family as both horses and donkeys, a fact that tends to surprise most people due to how different they look.