The zebra evolved over million years and emerged from an ancestral species, Equus ferus przewalslkii, the Przewalski’s horse. Three zebra species remain into the wild: Grevy’s zebra, Mountain zebra and Plains zebra, all live across southern and eastern Africa.
Africa is a land of pure beauty and extraordinary wildlife but the priceless “big five” chase has rendered safaris crazy races where the zebras sometimes are left behind and become pointless to observe…
Zebras are simply stunning by their presence, elegance and beauty, but their black and white striped pelages are fascinating. This giant fingerprint on their skins is unique from an individual to another and has its own striping pattern under complex genetic mechanisms.
Both black and white form an amazing contrast and also protect them from biting flies and especially the Horse-flies (Tabanidea).
As a matter of fact, one of the main beliefs regarding evolutive and adaptive significance of striped pelage is that biting flies most likely attack uniformly colored surface.
Zebras also have stripe widths (between 1 and 5 cm) in a range lower than those preferred by most biting fly species therefore zebras are less attacked. Horse-flies like to land on shaded areas which is generally on the lower parts of the animal (legs and head while grazing). Even thinner stripes of 1 to 1.5 cm cover the leg and head of the zebra, not a real coincidence…
Here’s a little of the fascinating back of Africa !
Plains Zebra grazing in Etosha NP, Namibia
Plains Zebras as grooming partners in Etosha NP, Namibia
Stripe variation in Plains Zebras, with low number of leg stripes in southern regions (left, in Namibia) and greater number of leg stripes in northern regions (right, in Kenya).
A low number of leg stripe would be the result of being less exposed to biting flies due to less dense vegetation in some southern areas ?
