Mountain Zebra

 

True Wild Life | Mountain Zebra | The Mountain Zebra is an endangered species of equid native to south-western Angola, Namibia and South Africa. It has two subspecies, the Cape Mountain Zebra  and Hartmann's Mountain Zebra, though it has been suggested these should be considered separate species. Like all zebras, it is boldly striped in black and white and no two individuals look exactly alike. The stripe can be black and white or dark brown and white. Their stripes cover their whole bodies except for their bellies. The Mountain zebra also has a dewlap.

As its name suggests, the Mountain Zebra lives in higher places than other zebras. Its numbers are decreasing because of hunting for its skin and meat, and also because of droughts. Mountain Zebras are found on mountain slopes, open grasslands, woodlands and areas with sufficient vegetation. Some Mountain Zebras live in the rainforest. Mountain zebras live in hot, dry, rocky, mountainous and hilly habitats. They prefer slopes and plateaus and can be found as high as 1,000 metres above sea level, although they do migrate lower in the winter season. Their diet consists of tufted grass, bark, leaves, buds, fruit and roots. They often dig for ground water.

Mountain zebra are most active in the early morning and late afternoon. They spend up to half of the daylight hours feeding. Mountain zebra live in herds consisting of one adult male (stallion), one to five adult females (mares) and their young. The stallion is the dominant member of the herd. Sometimes herds come together to form temporary groups of up to 30 individuals. Mountain zebra never form the large herds characteristic of Plains zebra, however, they do exhibit a harem-type social system. During the winter they move up to 20 kilometres from a water source. Where they are in danger of being hunted, Mountain zebra water at night, however, when they are not in danger of being hunted, they water at any time.

The Mountain zebras form small family groups consisting of a single stallion, one, two, or several mares, and their recent offspring. Bachelor males live in separate groups and attempt to abduct young mares and are opposed by the stallion. Mountain zebra groups do not aggregate into large herds like Plains zebras. Mares may give birth to one foal every twelve months. Like other equids, zebra foals are able to stand, walk and suckle shortly after they are born. The mare nurses the foal for up to a year, and the young zebra then leave to join bachelor groups or harems.

The Mountain Zebra lives in higher places than any other zebra. It lives in two different locations in southwestern Africa and South Africa. The biggest threat to Mountain Zebras is hunting by people. These animals have long been hunted for their beautifully patterned skins and meat. The Mountain Zebras that live in South Africa have nearly been wiped out twice in the past.

Grevy's Zebra

True Wild Life | Grevy's Zebra | The Grevy's zebra , also known as the Imperial zebra, is the largest extant wild equid and one of three species of zebra, the other two being the plains zebra and the mountain zebra. The Grevy's zebra is found in Kenya and Ethiopia. Compared with other zebras, it is tall, has large ears, and its stripes are narrower. It is more ass-like in appearance as compared to other zebras, which are more horse-like. Among their kinds who were hunted for their hides, Grevy's Zebra is the largest kind of zebra. The Grevy's Zebra's pattern is like a painting, so it is called the most beautiful of zebras. However, its beauty is its sadness, because it is hunted for its hide. Its numbers keep becoming lower and lower.

Grevy's zebras grow up to nine feet long, weigh up to 990 pounds, and stand up to almost five and a half feet at the shoulder. On average, males are about ten percent larger than females. Big heads, large and rounded ears, and thick, erect manes make the Grevy's zebra appear more mule-like than other zebras. In fact, many experts consider Grevy's zebras to be striped asses that are not closely related to other zebras. Their coats sport dazzling narrow stripes that wrap around each other in a concentric pattern and are bisected by a black stripe running down the spine. Grevy's Zebra is hunted for its beautiful hide and so it has had a shocking drop in numbers.

Males are highly territorial, claiming prime watering and grazing areas with piles of dung called middens. They generally live alone in their territories, except when females move through during mating season. Non-territorial males travel together in groups of two to six animals. This social system differs from that of other zebras, which typically form female harems that live in one male's territory all year. During dry months, many Grevy's zebras migrate to greener mountain pastures, but males on prime territories often remain there year-round. Grevy's zebras inhabit semi-desert areas, including arid grasslands and dusty acacia savannas. The most suitable areas have water year-round.

Normally only one foal is born to a female after a gestation period of thirteen months. Most of the babies are born between May and August. The young zebra has brown stripes and a mane which stretches from the shoulder to the tail. The background colour of the foal's coat is light brown instead of white. This protective colouring helps the foal to "freeze" and blend instantly with its background. The foal can stand on its feet within one hour of its birth and can run with the herd after only a few hours - this gives it a much better chance of escaping from predators, usually lions. Young males leave the herd when they are about two years old and join bachelor herds. Eventually they will collect mares to form their own new herds or perhaps challenge old or weak stallions and take over their herd.

Today, the surviving wild Grevy's Zebras are protected in national parks. The Grevy's Zebra has other things to worry about. Domesticated animals are growing in number, and the grass that the zebra eats has been taken away. Its living space is also disappearing because people are building. Experts speculate there are only around 1,900 to 2,500 wild Grevey's Zebras left.

Zorse

True Wild Life | Zorse | The zorse is a cross between a zebra stallion and a domestic mare. It is also possible to use a zebra mare and a domestic stallion, but owners of valuable zebra mares don't want to waste a year of their breeding life producing a hybrid when they could be producing a zebra foal instead. The crosses were originally done in England and Africa to try to produce a domestic horselike animal that was resistant to diseases spread by the tse tse fly in Africa. Zebras have natural resistance, where domestic donkeys and horses do not. The experimental crosses were actually becoming popular until early in the 20th century when the auto displaced the horse and mule. At that point cross-breeding was largely abandoned. A revival of interest came in the early 1990s, with just about every breed of domestic horse imaginable being tried.

A zorse generally inherits the striping pattern and some of the conformation of the zebra sire with the size, colouration, and temperament of the domestic mare. Coarse bad tempered pony mares produce coarse bad tempered zonies. Mares of quality, especially Quarter horses and American Paint horses, produce some very beautiful zorses that have a good working attitude. If the mare has a pattern, such as pinto spotting or Appy spots, the zorse often will also. You only see the striping pattern on the pigmented areas, never on the white areas. Breeders avoid using gray mares because the zorse can inherit the graying gene and lose all his stripes in a few years! You can still see the stripes on the skin.

Like mules, zorses are born anatomically normal males or females. They exhibit normal breeding behaviour. But like mules they are sterile. Males should be gelded as early as a few months old to prevent dangerous studdy behaviour. A breeder in KY keeps two zorse mares in the pasture with his Paint stallion to keep him company. He has bred them both hundreds of times over the years but no offspring have ever resulted.

Zorses tend to be very hardy and live into their 30s with good care. Their temperaments are generally similar to those of their mothers, but like the zebra they do have a strong flight response. Because of this it's best for a first time hybrid owner to get a zedonk instead. When a zedonk startles he freezes up like a donkey rather than bolt blindly like a horse or zebra.

Zonkey

True Wild Life | Zonkey | The zonkey also known as zebrass, zebronkey,zeasses, zeedonk, zedonk, zebadonk, zenkey, donbra, zebrinny, or deebra, is basically the result of when a zebra and a donkey mate. However, depending on which way round the parents are, determines whether the offspring is classed as a zonkey (male zebra, female donkey) or a zeedonk (female zebra, male donkey). Like with the common mule, it is thought to be almost impossible for the zonkey to breed. The zonkey can be conceived when a zebra and a donkey are in the same territory in south Africa. Both the zebra and the donkey belong to the horse family so this cross-mating is plausible. The courtship behavior of a donkey is much more similar to that of the various zebra species than a horse's courtship behavior. Zebras and donkeys will more readily and easily breed for that reason than zebras and horses.

The zonkey is extremely rare in the wild, but a number of zoos have successfully been able to breed the zonkey. The first zoo to breed a zonkey was Colchester Zoo in Essex, south east England. Zonkeys are hybrid animals and the zonkey is bred by mating together two species from within the same genus (donkey and zebra). The resulting zonkey offspring have traits and characteristics of both parents. The tallest zonkey at the top of the page is sired by a Grevy zebra. The result is a taller animal with a bigger head, wither hump, and a Grevy pinstriping pattern. The rest of the zonkies are sired by the common or plains zebra. Their conformation is more ponylike and they are generally smaller. Their striping pattern is like that of the parent zebra species. Look carefully - there are two zorses among the zedonks. Notice their more horselike conformation and much smaller ears.

Zonkeys vary considerably in both looks and temperament depending on which species of zebra is used for the cross. Grevy hybrids tend to be more aggressive like the Grevy parent. Zonkeys from plains zebra (Grant, Chapman, etc) are much mellower. A Zonkey is a cross between a zebra stallion (male) and a donkey jennet (female). The zonkey gets its the colour or dominant colour gene of the donkey and the zebra sire gives the zonkey its species specific striping pattern.

The zonkey is generally more easily bred than a zorse (the mix-breeding of a zebra and a horse) as the donkey and zebra use similar methods of communication and have similar behavioural patterns where the horse and the zebra have many more differences.