A pair of zebras with their muzzles close together

Zebra

The striped horse
Type
giant panda

Mammals

Area
Map of Africa
Africa
Endangered Status

Some Endangered

facts

size
4 to 5 feet
at the shoulder
An average refrigerator is 5.8 feet (70 inches) tall.
Zebra compared in height to a refrigerator
food
plants
Herbivore
plants

Zebras eat mostly grass, but sometimes they nibble leaves from bushes.Zebra nibbling grass

habitat
savanna
Grassland habitat

description

Close-up of a zebra's striped fur and mane

Black or white?

Is a zebra white with black stripes or black with white stripes? It's a tricky question! A zebra's coat is white with black stripes, but under that fur, the animal's skin is black. So it all depends on how you look at it!

Zebra barking
A group of zebras huddled together, including a mother and her foal

Safety in numbers

Zebras are members of the horse family. They have excellent hearing and eyesight and can run at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour. Usually the lead male of the herd, called a stallion, stays at the back of the group to defend against predators, if necessary. When zebras are grouped together, the stripes make it had for a lion or leopard to pick out one zebra to chase.

Hartmann's mountain zebra

There are three types of zebra, and each species has a different stripe size from narrow to wide. In fact, the farther south you travel on the African plains, the farther apart the stripes on the zebras get! The stripes on individual zebras are a different as our fingerprints.

A pair of zebras communicating

Zebra language

Zebras communicate with facial expressions and sounds. They make loud braying or barking sounds and soft snorting sounds. The position of their ears, how wide open their eyes are, and whether they show their teeth all send a signal. For example, ears flat back means trouble, or "you better follow orders!"