The Striped Animal

Appearance

Zebras are considered heavy-bodied animals that are perfectly designed for speed. Their long legs and narrow hooves help them run up to 25 miles per hour. Just like horses, they have one toe on each foot which they walk on the tip. Their stripes are different for each one of them. It helps them identify each other in their herd. Zebras have long necks and heads which helps them reach the grass on the ground. They have a mane that runs along from their forehead to the back of their tail. The patterns of their stripes are different depending on the species. The Grevy's and the Mountain Zebra have narrow stripes, while the Common Zebra has broad stripes that cover its entire body. The Grevy's Zebra is the largest species and has large, round ears. 

Diet

Zebras are herbivores. They only eat plants and they eat no meat. 90% of their diet is made up of a variety of different grasses. The other 10% is made up of leaves. Zebras use their sharp front teeth to bite on hard ends of grass and then they use their back molars to chew their food. Since grass doesn't have a lot of nutrition, zebras spend a lot of time grazing for grass. When Common Zebras see drinking water they go up to it and drink it. Common Zebras drink every day while Mountain Zebras and Grevy's Zebras live in drier areas, they drink water every couple of days. In drier seasons zebras can travel to places where there are fresh grass and water holes that haven't dried up. 

Habitat

Zebras are found in open grasslands and plains. They live in Eastern and Southern Africa. The Common Zebra is found in Eastern Africa and roaming the grass plains. The Mountain Zebra is found in Southeast Africa and lives on grassland mountains. The Grevy's Zebra is found from Ethiopia to northern Kenya, and on arid grasslands and sub-deserts. Since zebras can run really fast, they can escape predators and so they rely on open plains to escape. All three species of zebra are at risk of population decrease, due to the loss of their habitat.

Reproduction

It takes a few years for a zebra to breed. After a gestation period of 10 to 12 months, females give birth to a single foal (the name for a baby zebra). Foals are born with stripes, a mane, and a little bit of hair in the middle of their tummy. Foals are able to stand in just a few minutes after birth to run away if there are predators. They are able to eat grass after a week and stop drinking their mother's milk after 11 months. Male foals leave their mothers after three years and join an all-male group. Female foals stay with their mother.

Thank you for reading this interesting article. I hope you enjoyed reading and learned a lot from it. Zebras are very cool and interesting. To see fun facts about them go to my youtube channel.

The Informative Zoologist