The Zebras page from Corine Schmitz

Photographies from André Brunsperger, except " Barcode "
and the diagrams of stripes are from Corine Schmitz.

  Zebra Short Course

Zebras are confusing animals. They owe much of their survival to confusing
their predators. No two zebras have exactly the same stripes. But in the
confusing array of stripes that each zebra presents, we can learn to
differentiate what are individual characteristics, and what characteristics
are jointly found in each zebra belonging to one of the 3 species
of zebra. Before identifying which kind (sub-species) a zebra
belongs to , we must determine which species it is. There
are 3 zebra species. Each zebra species has a specific
rump striping pattern. It is upon identification of the
rump pattern that one can correctly identify
which species a zebra belongs to )

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HOW TO IDENTIFY ZEBRAS

In order to positively identify which species a zebra belongs to, one must visualize the rump stripes. It is often tempting to go by other characteristics, such as color of nose, striping on legs, thickness of stripes or size of ears, BUT often zebras are mistakenly identified using that method. For example, both the Grevy, Mountain and Grant's zebra have striping all the way down the leg to the hooves, but they are completely different animals. In the wild, they are separated thousands of miles geographically and they live in different habitats. And both the Grevy, Mountain and Chapman zebras have white bellies. Only with lots of practice can a person develop enough zebra savvy to recognize the animal by attributes other than rump pattern Finally, be aware that all zebras, no matter what species they belong to, have stripes that tend to be wider on the neck than the front of the barrel. And the stripes on the forehead are the most narrow stripes on the body. So, in conclusion THE ONLY WAY TO CORRECTLY IDENTIFY WHICH SPECIES A ZEBRA BELONGS TO, ESPECIALLY IN THE BEGINNING OF YOUR ZEBRA IDENTIFICATION QUEST, IS TO IDENTIFY THE PATTERN OF STRIPES ON THE RUMP. BEHOND THE STRIPES: THE THREE ZEBRA SPECIES A) The PLAIN's ZEBRA (Equus Burchell). This species of zebras is the most common zebra. It is characterized by -stripes that veer off to the back starting midway through the barrel -having 44 chromosomes -making a short, bark like noise -carrying the foal 365 days -living in groups of 4 or 5 mares, claimed by a stallion who has breeding rights to those females. The Plain's zebra has several subspecies: all these subspecies share the above characteristics. The difference among the Plain's zebra subspecies is in the amount of striping of the legs and hind quarters. The further South the range of the Plain's zebra, the less belly and leg striping it has. The Grant's zebra, subspecies of the Plain's zebra, has stripes down to its hooves. Its rump has bold black and white stripes, and his belly is striped too. The Grant's zebra is found in Kenya and Tanzania.

Each zebra has individual stripe patterns, but all Plain's zebras have stripes that veer off to the rear of the animal midway through its back. The stripes can remain solid black, or they can alternate with black and brown (shadow stripes) or even become fuzzy, but they all share the characteristic of bending to the rear midway through the back. The different subspecies of Plain's zebras have different amounts of belly and leg striping !

1-2 The GRANT subspecies

Clic if you want to listen Grant Zebra

The CHAPMAN subspecies of the Plain's zebra has black and brown (called shadow) stripes on the rump, and the stripes fade away down the legs.

The Chapman zebra is another subpecies of the plain's zebra. It too has stripes that veer off to the back starting midway through the barrel. But some of the stripes on the rump are brown, or called shadow stripes. Striping of the legs stops at the knees. The belly is not as strongly striped as the Grant's. It's range is more to the South Africa.

GREVY'S ZEBRA

The Grevy's zebra has stripes that remain perpendicular to the back bone and curve around the tail. There are no Grevy's subspecies, so there is little variation in the stripe patterns of all Grevy's

The Grevy's zebra. This species of zebra is becoming rare. The Grevy's zebra is characterized by -stripes that remain perpendicular to the spine up to the tail. -having 46 chromosomes -making a loud and deep bray like sound -carrying the foal 390 days -not forming stable groups. Grevy's roam their sub-desert habitat and do not form long term bonds with each other . A stallion may claim a territory, in which becomes the only stallion to have breeding rights with the females in his territory. -main range limited to reserves in North Kenya !

The Grevy's zebra has stripes that remain perpendicular to the back bone and curve around the tail. There are no Grevy's subspecies, so there is little variation in the stripe patterns of all Grevy's

Save the Grevy Zebra
PO Box 513 Warrenton, VA 20119 Etats Unis

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BARCODE

The MOUNTAIN ZEBRA This species of zebra is rare and became almost extinct in the 1940's. The Mountain zebra is characterized by -stripes that veer off to the back of the animal, starting close to the hind leg. -having 3 broad nearly horizontal stripes on the rump -having stripes form a gridiron pattern in front of the tail -having 34 chromosomes -making a squeal like sound -carrying the foal 350 days -also living in groups of 4 or 5 mares, claimed by a stallion who has breeding rights to those females. -having a dewlap, or loose skin flap under the neck (purpose unknown) -main range of South Africa and Namibia The Mountain zebra has 2 subspecies: the Cape and the Hartmann zebra. The Cape zebra has wider stripes on his flank than the Hartmann zebra

The two subspecies of the Mountain zebra, the Cape and the Hartmann zebras, are very similar. The flank stripes of the Cape zebra are somewhat wider than the flank stripes of the Hartmann. Below is the picture of a Hartmann zebra. At this time, we do not have a picture of a Cape zebra.