![]() In ancient times, the African zebra was called hippotigris ("horse tiger") by the Greeks and Romans. In 1591, Italian explorer Filippo Pigafetta recorded "zebra" being used to refer to the African animals by Portuguese visitors to the continent. Equiferus appears to have entered into Portuguese as ezebro or zebro, which was originally used for a legendary equine in the wilds of the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its origins may lie in the Latin equiferus, meaning "wild horse". The English name "zebra" derives from Italian, Spanish or Portuguese. Nevertheless, zebras can be found in numerous protected areas. quagga quagga), a type of plains zebra, was driven to extinction in the 19th century. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Grévy's zebra as endangered, the mountain zebra as vulnerable and the plains zebra as near-threatened. Historically, they have been highly sought after by exotic animal collectors, but unlike horses and donkeys, zebras have never been truly domesticated. They have been featured in art and stories in Africa and beyond. Zebras' dazzling stripes make them among the most recognisable mammals. ![]() Social grooming strengthens social bonds in plains and mountain zebras. Zebras communicate with various vocalisations, body postures and facial expressions. In harem-holding species, adult females mate only with their harem stallion, while male Grévy's zebras establish territories which attract females and the species is promiscuous. Zebra species differ in social behaviour, with plains and mountain zebra living in stable harems consisting of an adult male or stallion, several adult females or mares, and their young or foals while Grévy's zebra live alone or in loosely associated herds. ![]() They are preyed on mainly by lions, and typically flee when threatened but also bite and kick. Zebras are primarily grazers and can subsist on lower-quality vegetation. ![]() Zebras inhabit eastern and southern Africa and can be found in a variety of habitats such as savannahs, grasslands, woodlands, shrublands, and mountainous areas. Several theories have been proposed for the function of these stripes, with most evidence supporting them as a deterrent for biting flies. Zebra stripes come in different patterns, unique to each individual. Zebras share the genus Equus with horses and asses, the three groups being the only living members of the family Equidae. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra ( Equus grevyi), plains zebra ( E. Zebras ( US: / ˈ z iː b r ə z/, UK: / ˈ z ɛ b r ə z, ˈ z iː-/) (subgenus Hippotigris) are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. Modern range of the three living zebra species Minis muzzled for 24 hours showed no evidence of stress and lost weight compared to other groups that gained weight so if your horse is overweight, a grazing muzzle is an option to consider and still keep your horse in the pasture.A herd of plains zebras ( Equus quagga) in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania The results showed that no negative effects occurred. Heart rate and salivary cortisol levels were also measured to check for stress. The horses were recorded hourly and their weights were checked routinely. Miniature horses were used because they commonly are obese and need to lose weight. They rotated two Minis at a time through three 21-day treatment periods: no muzzle, muzzled for 10 hours per day, and muzzled for 24 hours per day. Amy Burk was concerned about the mental stress the muzzle could cause, so she developed a study using six miniature horses that were in adjacent grass paddocks 24 hours a day. The muzzle allows the horse to get some grass inside the muzzle but prevents a large portion from being eaten.ĭr. The major problem my clients have is keeping the muzzle on the horse as some horses are really good at getting the muzzle off and some muzzles are certainly better than others. A grazing muzzle has been shown to decrease grass ingestion by 30-80%, depending on the grass and muzzle used. However, unless you have a large area fenced with no grass, turnout can be difficult but one option is a grazing muzzle. Also, horses generally have a better mental attitude in a pasture versus being kept in a stall. Exercise is really important to aid in weight loss. It is difficult to get horses to lose weight and still get them exercise as most horses gain weight from eating grass in the pasture, not from grain or concentrates. Laminitis is a painful foot condition that can even end in the horse’s death in some cases. Obesity is a serious problem in horses as in some cases it can lead to laminitis and founder.
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