Picture courtesy of Alan Morton, wildlife photographer
Burchell's Zebra
Shoulder height: 1,3m
Mass: 227 to 325kg
Gestation: 365 days. One young - breed throughout the year. Peak - August/September
Duration of life: 30 years
Shaped like a horse and possess great speed. Possess good eyesight. Water dependent and will travel many kilometres when not available. When necessary, will dig for water. On average, they drink about 14 litres per day.
Highly sociable. They are always in good condition and this stems from their adaptability.
Other herbivores use their tongues to feed the grass into their mouths, but the zebra use their front teeth. Thus, they graze right down to the soil level and at times even dig up corms and rhizomes, particularly during times of drought.
No two zebra have the same pattern or stripes. The fact that zebra are highly gregarious leads to their frequent association with other species, especially wildebeest.
The zebra belongs to the order Perissodactyla (uneven-toed-mammals), which include three recent families, namely the Equidae, or horses, the Tapiridae, or tapirs, and the Rhinocerotidae, or rhinoceroses.
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