Born with shaggy fur and brownish stripes, newborn foals can stand within 15 minutes of birth and begin nursing within an hour. Foals may begin grazing within a week of birth but may nurse for seven to 16 months. Fillies remain in the herd until they are sexually mature. Colts leave their family herd when they are 2 to 3 years old to join a bachelor herd before they are old enough to compete for females.
Open grasslands and savannas, often mixing with herds of other browsing or grazing animals such as giraffes or wildebeests. Zebras are grazers, and their grazing tends to promote new growth of grass. They usually are the first species to arrive to a new grazing area, feeding on the coarser top grass and leaving the tender stems, leaves and growing shoots for other grazers.
At the Zoo, we offer them Bermuda hay, grains and Equi-Aid prevents impaction , as well as salt and minerals.
Generic filters Hidden label. Hidden label. Zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata are native to central Australia. And these birds are the first to be clearly shown to use their own fat, not protein, to get through a day without food or water, says Ulf Bauchinger.
As an evolutionary physiologist, he studies how the bodies of animals and plants change over time to adapt to their environments. Scientists have known that animals — including people — free up some water as their bodies turn food fat, protein or carbohydrates into fuel. The challenge in birds has been for scientists to figure out how to probe whether their bodies might free up water from stored energy — body fat. So Bauchinger, Joanna Rutkowska and other scientists studied zebra finches in their lab.
Twelve got food only. Another dozen got water only. A final dozen got neither. Zebras are very closely related to horses and donkeys; in fact, they are in the same genus, Equus.
The most prominent feature of zebras is the bold patterns on their coats. Zebras are generally thought to have white coats with black or brown stripes, according to the San Diego Zoo , because the stripes end at their bellies and the inner side of the legs, which are white.
However, zebras have black skin under their white coats! Each species of zebra has a different general pattern of stripes. The Grevy's zebra has very thin stripes. The mountain zebra has vertical stripes on its neck and torso, but horizontal stripes on its haunches.
Some subspecies of plains zebras have brownish "shadow" stripes between the black stripes, according to the San Diego Zoo. It is believed that the zebra's stripes work like camouflage, according to the National Geographic. When zebras stand together, it is harder for predators to determine how many zebras are in the group.
The stripes may also make the zebra appear unattractive to smaller predators, such as bloodsucking horseflies, which can spread disease. In addition, the stripes may work as a natural sunscreen.
Each zebra's stripes are unique. Just as no two human fingerprints are alike, no two zebras have the same stripe pattern. The largest zebra is the Grevy's zebra, according to the San Diego Zoo. Yet in the dry season, too many animals competed for too little water. Elephants bullied zebras and wildebeest. Prowling lions set off terrifying stampedes of zebras. In another attempt to protect wildlife during the drought, government authorities and lodge owners in dug holes and filled them with water from deep below the Boteti sand.
Crocodiles emerged from dank riverbank caves, where they had holed up for years. The water released hippos from foul puddles full of waste that poisoned fish. And it brought back fish and frogs—and water birds that fed on them.
Thousands of zebras upholster the valley below. Wave after wave of them kick up pink dust in the last flush of daylight. They are clustered in small pockets, most moving with their heads low to the ground, tearing through the grass with their teeth.
Suddenly three bull elephants stampede across the flanking hillside, trailing clouds of dust. Something has spooked them, and the zebras, too. The zebra herds begin to trot nervously away. Bradley decides to call it a day. A fresh chorus of kwa-has greets the sunrise. As the vanguard of the migration, zebras chomp longer grasses, exposing short, sweet shoots for the more selective wildebeest that trail them, while the small population of springbok, bringing up the rear, must settle for leftovers.
Then there are the predators zebras sustain. His words are barely out when we come upon a tangled heap of vultures. They peel away at our approach, revealing a half-eaten zebra foal.
We finally come upon Seretse. And indeed she is—strong and fat and pregnant, with bolder stripes than the others. So where are the other 16,?
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