Facts About Zebras

Every zebra's stripe pattern is unique — no two individuals match, and foals learn to recognize their mothers partly by pattern.

The best-supported explanation for stripes is that they deter biting flies: experiments show horseflies land far less often on striped surfaces.

Zebras have black skin under their coats; the stripes exist only in the fur.

There are three living species — plains, mountain, and Grévy's zebras — and Grévy's is the largest and most endangered.

Zebras are equids, close relatives of horses and donkeys, but they have never been truly domesticated.

A zebra can run around 40 mph (65 km/h) and zigzags sharply to evade predators.

A zebra's kick is powerful enough to seriously injure a lion.

Plains zebras join one of Africa's great migrations, moving in the Serengeti-Mara system alongside hundreds of thousands of wildebeest.

Zebras sleep standing up thanks to locking 'stay apparatus' in their legs, dozing deeply only when herd-mates keep watch.

Zebra herds are noisy — they communicate with barks, brays, snorts, and expressive ears and faces.

Stallions defend family groups (harems) of mares and foals; bachelor males form their own herds until they can win mares.

Foals can stand within minutes of birth and run within about an hour — essential on predator-filled savannas.

The quagga, a partially striped zebra of South Africa, was hunted to extinction in the 1880s; a breeding project is trying to recreate its look from plains zebra genes.

Grévy's zebra numbers have fallen to roughly 2,000-3,000 in the wild, mostly in northern Kenya.

Mixed herds of zebras and wildebeest benefit both: zebras crop tall coarse grass, exposing tender shoots that wildebeest prefer.