Zebras

The Story of the Stripes: Meet the Zebras

Members of the horse family, zebras are fleet-footed, hoofed, African mammals that have a distinctive coat patterned in stripes of black or brown and white or buff. Each animal's stripe pattern is as distinctive as a human's fingerprint.

Surprisingly, the conspicuous coloring of the zebra makes it very inconspicuous from a distance among the African grasslands. Zebras stay together in herds of only a few animals or as many as several hundred. It is believed that the stripes serve as protective coloring when viewed en masse. One zebra in a herd will always remain alert to safeguard the others. Zebras also use their incredible speed—up to 40 miles per hour—as a defense.

There are three types of zebra: plains zebra, Grevy's zebra and mountain zebra. The head and body of a zebra measures, on average, 7-1/2 feet in length, and its tail is 22 inches. At the shoulder, a zebra stands 4 to 5 feet. It weighs as much as 770 pounds.

The hearing of zebras is keen and their large ears rotate to locate sounds. Their eyesight is sharp, and a zebra's night vision is as good as an owl's.

Fascinating Facts