Animal Quick Facts
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Size
About 4 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh between 485 and 700 pounds.
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Color
A white or buff base with black or dark brown stripes.
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Lifespan
16.9 years (median life expectancy of males and females combined)
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Range
Widespread throughout eastern and southern Africa, including southern Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.
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Habitat
Open grasslands, savannas, and occasionally in woodlands.
Equus burchelli
Location in the Zoo: African Savanna
Grant’s zebras are one of six subspecies of plains zebras. Zebra hair is short and coarse, and the stripes run all over the body and all the way down to the hooves. Their manes are stiff and upright. Zebras like to live in open grasslands so they can eat the tall, coarse grass found there. Grass makes up most of their diet, although they sometimes also eat shrubs, herbs, twigs, leaves, and bark. Their teeth grow their entire lives. If they did not, they would wear down right away because they chew so much.
Zebras do not live in permanent herds. Instead, they comingle with several hundred families. One male and up to six females make up a herd. They reach sexual maturity at age two to three. Mares give birth to one foal at a time. Foals weigh between 65 and 75 pounds and can stand 15 minutes after they are born. After only a few hours, newborns can run with the herd.