Learning about a Zebra’s Habitat
To learn about a zebra it helps to know about the zebra’s habitat. Where these horse like animals thrive and flourish, gives us a peek into how they live and survive. Even their size can be affected by where they live and their eating and mating habits go along with the zebra’s habitat. Although they do stay in a specific area for a while, they all migrate in the rainy season. So they can become accustomed to different weather and different types of food.
Zebras live mainly in southwest, eastern and southern Africa. Kenya and Tanzania have the most zebras. When the rainy season comes they migrate throughout the Serengeti. The zebra’s habitat changes as they travel. They can end up traveling through deserts, grasslands and forests and they adapt to every one of these climates. The only thing they need to survive and thrive is fresh water. They will not usually ever be in an area that has no water and they will not stray over twenty miles away from a water source.
Zebras resemble horses but there is one thing that makes them different from all of the other Eguus. They have distinctive black and white stripping. Although these stripes look similar every zebra striping is different and unique from another. This way the zebras can be easy identified by people and each other. When it comes to the size of these animals, where they live can make a big difference.
The smallest type of zebra thrives in the mountainous areas. It is called an equus zebra. Equus grevyi can be found in the plains and are larger type zebras. They have many more strips than the smaller zebras. The plains zebras are the most common type of zebra. So the zebra’s habitat has a lot to do with their size and health. Zebras can live anywhere from twenty to thirty years in the wild.
Because the zebras all migrate they have longer legs and hard hooves. This helps them move easier through their migration and survive in different conditions. They are equids and they are called this because of their medium size and unusual toe formation. They can adapt to tough grasses, high fiber foods and even tree bark. As long as they have water their single stomach and digestive systems can handle just about any type of food available.
During the rainy season that happens between October and December, the zebras follow the rains. Since water is so important to them they must do this to survive. If they stay in their original area they may become dehydrated fast. They have no problem migrating and even get used to the weather and different climates. Every season they travel around five hundred miles. They look for heavily grassy areas to eat and they spend most of their time doing just that. Zebras can spend eighty percent of their time grazing. There is a sedentary group of zebras that are lucky enough to get all of the food they need. They live in Tanzania have food around them all year long. But this is an exception to the rule and only makes up a small percentage of all zebras.
Zebras can live in almost any type of habitat. Because of their migration every year their ability to adapt to different foods and climates has made them a hearty, strong animal. They also have strong teeth to chew any type of grass it comes upon and has a stomach and digestive tract that has evolved to insure that this animal can survive. So it is safe to say that a zebra’s habitat is wherever the animal is right now.