ZEBRA:

Physical attributes

Size and weight

The skull of a Grant's zebra.

The common plains zebra is about 1.21.3 m (4751 in) at the shoulder with a body ranging from 2
2.6 m (6.68.5 ft) long with a 0.5 m (20 in) tail. It can weigh up to 350 kg (770 lb), males being
slightly bigger than females. Grvy's zebra is considerably larger, while the mountain zebra is
somewhat smaller.[9]

Stripes

The black and white stripes may have one or several functions.

It was previously believed that zebras were white animals with black stripes, since some zebras
have white underbellies. Embryological evidence, however, shows that the animal's background
color is black and the white stripes and bellies are additions.[4] It is likely that the stripes are caused
by a combination of factors.[10][11][12]

The stripes are typically vertical on the head, neck, forequarters, and main body, with horizontal
stripes at the rear and on the legs of the animal.
A wide variety of hypotheses have been proposed to account for the evolution of the striking stripes
of zebras. The more traditional of these (1 and 2, below) relate to camouflage.

1. The vertical striping may help the zebra hide in the grass by disrupting its outline. In addition, even
at moderate distances, the striking striping merges to an apparent grey. However, the camouflage
has been contested with arguments that most of a zebra's predators (such as lions and hyenas)
cannot see well at a distance, and are more likely to have smelled or heard a zebra before seeing it
from a distance, especially at night.[13]