Facts about Mountain Zebra

The Mountain zebra is a species of zebra found in the African continent. Like the horse and the donkey, this animal belongs to the equidae family. Its binomial name is Equus zebra. The Mountain Zebra is enlisted as 'vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Facts about Mountain zebra

• It has 2 sub-species, the Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra zebra), found in the provinces of Western Cape and Eastern Cape in South Africa; and the Hartmann's Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae), found in Namibia and Angola.
• A Mountain zebra, like other zebras, sports white and black stripes all over their body except for the stomach.
• Like no two human beings can have the same fingerprints, no two different zebras can have an identical pattern of stripes.
• In Cape mountain zebras, the black stripes are thick and the white inter-spacing is thinner; while in Hartmann's mountain zebras it is the other way round.
• The smallest species of zebra, the Mountain zebra, can grow upto the height of 3 - 4 ft, and a length of 2.2 meters.
• A full grown Mountain zebra can weigh approximately between 500 to 800 lbs. In the Cape mountain species, the females are larger in size than the males.
• The life span of a Mountain zebra is 25 years on an average. While the mares attain sexual maturity by two years, the stallions have to wait upto six years to become sexually matured.
• The mare gives birth to a foal after the gestation period of 12 months. The offspring are able to stand, walk and run shortly after their birth.
• After the ten month weaning period, the males leave the group and lead an independent life or join a group of males.
• As their name suggests, the Mountain zebras prefer dry and mountainous habitat. They are even found in mountainous areas as high as 2000 meters above the sea level.
• Their hard pointed hooves make them very good mountain climbers, and they can easily make it to high altitude areas.
• The Mountain zebras can run at an average speed of 40 miles per hour.
• The diet of this diurnal animal consists of leaves, barks, fruits, roots, grass etc. The Mountain zebras can easily digest the tip of coarse grass that is difficult for other herbivores to digest.
• They require a high intake of water daily. They can dig into the ground with their pointed hooves to obtain water.
• When there is a scarcity of food and water, they migrate in search of the same. Though, they are only seen in groups of four or five, a herd of 100 to 200 zebras is a common sight near waterholes, especially during periods of water scarcity.
• The Mountain zebras usually don't gather in large herds, they have small families consisting of a stallion (male) and a few mares (females) with their offspring.
• Like the horse, zebras stand while sleeping. One member of the family stands guard, while the others sleep, to keep an eye out for hungry predators.
• Carnivores such as lions and hyenas are the major predators of Mountain zebra.
• The two sub-species of Mountain zebra do not cross breed, as their territories don't overlap.

Initially the Mountain zebras were found across the entire length of the mountain range running parallel to the western coast of Africa, but large scale hunting of these species in the region and loss of habitat has pushed them onto the verge of extinction. Some serious steps need to be taken to ensure that this endangered animal doesn't become extinct.