- Zebras are equids, members of the horse family.
- They have excellent hearing and eyesight and can run at speeds of
up to 35 miles per hour (56 kilometers per hour).
- They also have a powerful kick that can cause serious injury to a
predator, like a lion, a hyena, or an African wild dog.
- Usually the lead male of the herd, called a stallion, stays at the
back of the group to defend against predators if necessary, while the
mares (females) and foals (youngsters) run from danger.
- Different zebra species have different types of stripes, from narrow
to wide.
- Zebras are herbivores and feed mostly by grazing on grasses, although
they also might browse a bit on the leaves and stems of bushes.
- They graze for many hours each day, using their strong front teeth
to clip off the tips of the grass.
- Their back teeth then crush and grind the food.
- Spending so much time chewing wears the zebra's teeth down, so their
teeth keep growing all their lives.
- As the dry season arrives and the grasses die back, zebra herds travel
to find more food and water holes for drinking.
- Zebras communicate with one another with facial expressions and sounds
- Zebra foals are dark brown and white at birth. They can walk just
20 minutes after they are born, and can run after an hour!
- It has a heavy head, stout body, short, stiff mane, and tufted tail
- The zebra's natural enemies are the lion and the leopard.
- .Zebras have been hunted extensively for their flesh and skins, but
the plains zebra and Grevy's zebra are still numerous
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