Zabardast Zebra

Fantastic Sunday is back for yet another blog before I start let me wish you bundled of joy and happiness for the festival season. After the success of Giraffe, the real challenge is what next? There were many options were in mind but before I finalize the same I got a request from one of my special friend Ramulu. He has a valid reason because people are hardly aware of this lovely animal, we only know them for crossing the roads 😟 hence with due respect to the thoughts bringing you Zabardast Zebra.

Zebra Crossing

This is the only thing we think when we hear word “Zebra” black and white stripes on the road that is not the only life of Zebra, let us understand the importance of stripes on its body and see how it is helpful to a lovely animal.

One of the most interesting facts of the stripe is unbelievable, we all think that the body Zebra is a striped body but it is not the case. The reason I said unbelievable because there was a belief that zebras were white animals with black stripes since some zebras have white underbellies but Embryological evidence, however, shows that the animal's background color is black and the white stripes and bellies are additions. Such an amazing creature of the God, naked eyes just cannot judge whether its white body or black because of such a mesmerizing design. This is one aspect of the strips let us see other unique aspects of the same as well.

Each zebra's stripes are unique. Just as no two human fingerprints are alike, no two zebras have the same stripe pattern

The stripes are typically vertical on the head, neck, forequarters, and the main body, with horizontal stripes at the rear and on the legs of the animal; it is likely that the stripes are caused by a combination of factors

The stripes may help to confuse predators by motion dazzle—a group of zebras standing or moving close together may appear as one large mass of flickering stripes, making it more difficult for the lion to pick out a target

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

When moving the stripes may confuse the observant because of visual illusions or the wagon-wheel effect, where the perceived motion is inverted and the barber pole illusion, where the perceived motion is in a wrong direction

I know you are amazed with the facts of strips, and to add to that will disclose more and more unknown details, which will be cherry on the cake. Let us move the next section to know more about the Zebra family

My world and me

Do you know there are three species of Zebras, the plains zebra, the mountain zebra, and the Grévy's zebra?

The Grévy's resembles an ass, to which zebras are closely related, while the other two look more horse-like

Zebras have four gaits (manner of walking) walk, trot, canter, and gallop. They are generally slower than horses, but their great stamina helps them outrun predators

Zebras have excellent eyesight. Like most ungulates, the zebra's eyes are on the sides of its head, giving it a wide field of view. Zebras also have night vision

Zebras have excellent hearing and have larger, rounder ears than horses, zebras can turn their ears in almost any direction. In addition to superb eyesight and hearing, zebras also have acute senses of smell and taste

I am sure you will love the uniqueness of the Zebra, do visit the national park and observe the details I have shared herewith you to enjoy your trip, do visit the DSLR section to enjoy the journey

Conservation

Various environmental factors have had a severe impact on zebra populations, in particular, hunting for skins and habitat destruction. Grévy's zebra and the mountain zebra are endangered, while plains zebras are much more plentiful

Though there is currently a plan, called the Quagga Project, that aims to breed zebras that are phenotypically similar to the quagga in a process called breeding back

Special Thanks: Ramulu for motivating me to initiate a habit of blogging, you are the great motivator