Zebras – Pretty Creatures Of The African Wilderness

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

African mammals from the horse family, zebras owe their world fame for the black and white stripes on their bodies that represent the very label of their individuality. The African landscape remains unique thanks to these magnificent animals that remain an attraction point for any tourist to Africa. Click over here for extra information about lion tattoo designs .

There are three major species of zebras, the mountain zebras, the plains zebras and the Grevy’s each with specific features and behaviors additional to the common traits. There are large parts of Kenya where Grevy’s or imperial zebras coexist with plain zebras for instance; these two subspecies are actually the ones to resemble horses most. Though limited to the African continent, zebras are adapted to a very wide range of habitats from mountains and hills to woodlands, savannas and grasslands.

Presently, the number of zebras roaming in the wild is definitely smaller than a century ago since the development of human civilization has had its impact on the zebra population, not to mention that for quite a while they were abusively hunted for their skins. You should find extra information about lion tattoo here.

The striped patters that zebras are famous for, represent an ID mark of each individual as the specimens recognize each other visually. Moreover, the stripes have a very important camouflage function against predators like lions. The stripes look just like waving grass particularly when the zebras are gathered in a herd and lions have great difficulty spotting them because of their monochromatic view. Zebras have great eyesight, not to mention that scientists believe that they are able to distinguish colors. Moreover, if we count night vision and good hearing too, we realize how well endowed zebras are for survival.

Danger can be more easily detected with the ability to move ears in all directions, and last but not least, unlike many other mammals the smell and taste are truly remarkable as well. As for food preferences, zebras don’t get to starve as they are very adaptable grazers, feeding on herbs, twigs, trees bark, shrubs or leaves. Unlike other herbivores that need a high amount of nutrients, zebras can subsist on less nutritional food for quite long periods of time thanks to their very good digestive system that is able to extract nutritive substances from almost anything. You will gain lots of extra information relating to lion head tattoo here.

When it comes to mating habits, there are specificities to each zebras subspecies, as some live in harems consisting of mares guarded by a stallion, whereas others get in groups for a few months every year to mate and then resume a more solitary life. The mating cycle occurs once a year for females and they usually give birth to one foal only.

VN:F [1.7.4_987]
Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
VN:F [1.7.4_987]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Tags: , ,

Leave a Reply

  • Stream Current News live