CHAPTER XII 



ZEBRAS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 



Peculiar to Africa — Perfectly adapted to savage landscape — 

 Ancestors of equine race — The Hipparion — Stripings — Lord 

 Norton's hybrid — The four forms of Zebra — Appearances 

 in history — The Mountain Zebra — Habits and distribution 

 — A magnificent spectacle — Ferocity — Examples at Zoo- 

 logical Gardens — Grevy's Zebra — Characteristics and range 

 — Burchell's Zebra — Description — Pace — Chapman's variety 

 — Present distribution — Experiments in harness — The 

 Quagga — Now extinct — Description — Former plenty — Fine 

 spectacle — Restricted range. 



Of all those countless throngs of wild animal life, with 

 which, from time immemorial, the African continent 

 has been so richly endowed, no form is more 

 beautiful or more interesting than the zebra. Like 

 the giraffe, the gnu or luildeheest, and the hippo- 

 potamus, the zebra is a form of life quite peculiar 

 to the Dark Continent. For thousands of years has 

 this handsome creature in its various species scoured 

 the plain and the mountain, adding everywhere and 

 at all times a singular beauty to the wild veldt. 

 For thousands of years has it flourished, little 



checked by the occasional assaults and simple 

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