Everyone instantly can recognise a zebra and we love them for various reasons. Here are a few interesting facts about them you might not have known.
- A zebra can run at 64km/h
- A group of zebras is called a dazzle.
- Imagine having to be on guard all the time. If it’s not lions or leopards, it’s wild dogs or other predators that you might have to flee from. In that case, you’d also sleep while standing up, so that you could get away quickly if the need arises. Zebras have the ability, just like horses, to lock their joints and catch up on some sleep. They normally do this when they feel safe among other zebras. At night, they might lie down and sleep. On average, zebras sleep for about seven hours in total in a day.
- Zebras are some of the most distinctive animals with their black and white stripes. In case you’re wondering how their stripes help to camouflage them, the answer is that the wavy lines blend in with tall grass, especially if they stand in the shade of trees.
- But that’s not all – when a group of zebras run for their lives, predators get confused by all the stripes as the zebras run away – another survival tactic for our striped friends.
- There is another cool thing about zebras’ stripes… They help zebras to identify each other, as each zebra’s stripes are unique – just like our fingerprints.
- There are 11 types of zebras, but not all of them are recognised as different species – some of them are seen as subspecies. You’ll find the Crawshay’s zebra, Chapman’s zebra, maneless zebra, Selous’ zebra, Grant’s zebra, Burchell’s zebra, plains zebra, Cape mountain zebra, Hartmann’s mountain zebra, mountain zebra and Grévy’s zebra.
- The Cape mountain zebra is a subspecies of the mountain zebra and you will find them, along with the Burchell’s zebra (part of the plains zebra species), in South Africa.
