Few animals are as striking as the zebra in a purely graphic sense.

Giant pandas,
penguins and skunks may share the same bold color combination, but the zebra’s
contrasting stripes make it an animal that stands out from the crowd. Its dazzling mod
pattern has made the zebra a muse to fashion designers, a mascot for advertisers, and
a delight to legions of zoo visitors. But the zebra is much more than a horse with stripes.
Consider the following:

1. There are three species of zebra and in the wild they are only found in Africa. They
include: Burchell's zebra, also known as the common or plains zebra; Grevy's zebra,
named for Jules Grevy, a 19th century French president who received one from
Abyssinia as a gift; and the Equus zebra. All three belong to the genus Equus, which
includes horses and donkeys.

2. Why oh why does a zebra have those stripes? Theories abound. Traditionally, a
zebra’s distinctive stripes were thought to offer protection, providing camouflage against
grasses and making individual animals difficult to single out in a herd when viewed by
predators. But 2016 research says the stripes aren't for camouflage at all. Scientists
also discovered in 2018 that stripes don't help zebras stay cool. While scientists have
been able to eliminate certain theories, they still don't know why zebras have stripes.

3. The skin of a zebra is black. Does that makes its stripes white? The conundrum
ensues.

Can you tell where I'm from by looking at my stripes? (Photo: Michal Ninger/Shutterstock)
4. Each species of zebra has different types of stripes, varying in width and pattern
distribution. Curiously, the farther south on the African plains the zebra lives, the father
apart its stripes will be.

5. Within each species, no two zebras have the same stripes; they are as unique
as fingerprints.

6. "Tijuana Zebras" are not zebras, at all. They are painted donkeys used in the
Mexican town as a tourist gimmick.

7. Zebras weigh anywhere from 400 to 850 pounds, depending on the species. The
Grevy's zebra is the largest wild member of the horse family.

Family is important to zebras. (Photo: Chantal de Bruijne/Shutterstock)

8. Zebras are social animals and live in small family groups that combine into large
herds. Even when grouped in a massive swath of other zebras, they remain close to
their families.

9. Constantly on the watch for lions and hyenas, a herd helps with all of its extra eyes to
monitor for danger. If a zebra is attacked, other zebras come to its defense and form a
circle around it to ward off the predator.
10. Zebras are often found mingling with antelope herds, adding extra protection against
threats.

11. In the wild, zebras usually live to be between 20 to 30 years old; they can live to the
age of 40 in zoos.

A zonkey is a cross between a zebra and a what? (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

12. We have been cross-breeding zebras with other equines since at least the 19th
century; the resulting "zebroids" come in a number of newfangled names, from zedonk,
zorse and zebra mule to zonkey (pictured above) and zebrule.

13. Zebras don’t run as quickly as horses; they max out at around 35 mph, but they
have excellent endurance and their zigzagging gait helps them to better evade
predators.

14. A cornered zebra rears, kicks and bites in defense. There have been numerous
recorded cases of zebras killing lions, generally by a swift kick to the head that at the
very least breaks the jaw, resulting in the cat's eventual starvation.
15. Humans have certainly tried, but zebras, in general, have been resistant to our
domestication efforts. Bless their stubborn souls; although perhaps more accurately, it’s
their aggressive nature that has spared them such a fate. It’s not a docile creature that
survives the plains of Africa and can kill a lion.

Lionel Rothschild turned heads with his trained zebras. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

16. While eccentric zoologist Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868-1937), 2nd Baron
Rothschild, was able to train zebras to draw his carriage through London (pictured
above in 1895), he knew that zebras would be unsuitable for riding and further
domestication.

17. During the zebras' annual migration in search of food and water, it is the
responsibility of the oldest male in the family to ensure that the group never strays too
far from water.

18. Burchell's zebra are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, though their numbers
have gone down significantly in the last century. Both the Grevy's zebra and the Equus
zebra are listed as endangered. Humans are the biggest threat to zebra populations;
hunting and habitat destruction are to blame for their decline.

19. Of all the Fruit Stripe Gum mascots, the zebra, “Yipes,” has outlasted the rest and
has become the main spokesanimal. In 1988, Yipes was made into a promotional bendy
figure, one that can fetch relatively high prices in the toy collector’s market.