THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Photo by IV. P. Dando 



GREVY'S ZEBRA 



This species of zebra come from the Galla country, and has narrower and more numerous stripes 

 than the mountain-zebra 



being black and the muzzle 

 bright brown. Both hind and 

 fore legs are banded down to 

 the hoofs. The stripes on the 

 neck and body are narrower 

 and more numerous than in 

 Burchell's zebra, and on the 

 hindquarters the median 

 stripe, which runs down the 

 centre of the back from the 

 mane to the tail, is connected 

 with the uppermost of the 

 oblique longitudinal stripes by 

 a series of short horizontal 

 bars. The ears in this species 

 are much larger than in 

 Burchell's zebra. 



The true zebra seems 

 never to have been an in- 

 habitant of the plains, like 



all its congeners, but to have 



confined its range entirely to mountainous districts. Speaking on this point, Captain (after- 

 wards Sir) Cornwallis Harris wrote upwards of sixty years ago : " This beautiful and wary 

 animal never of its own free will descends into the plain, as erroneously asserted by all natural- 

 ists, and it therefore never herds with either of its congeners, the quagga and Burchell's zebra, 

 whose habitat is equally limited to the open and level lowlands. Seeking the wildest and most 

 sequestered spots, the haughty troops are exceedingly difficult of approach, as well on account of 

 their watchful habits and extreme agility and fleetness of foot, as from the abrupt and inaccessible 

 nature of their highland abode." 



An allied species, of which examples have been obtained by Mr. G. W. Penrice, occurs ia 

 Benguela, Portuguese West Africa. 



I once saw the carcase of a zebra stallion which had been sent by rail to the Cape Town 

 Museum by a farmer living in the neighbourhood of the village of Worcester. This animal had 

 come down from the mountains, and joined a troop of donkeys running on the farm. Its intrusion 

 was, however, resented by a male donkey, which fought with and overpowered it, and, having 

 seized it with its teeth by the back of the neck, held it fast until it was secured by the farmer and 

 his men. The captured animal, however, refused food, and soon died, when its carcase was sent 

 to the Cape Museum for preservation. 



GREVY'S ZEBRA is the largest and perhaps the handsomest of all the zebras. This fine 

 animal is an inhabitant of Eastern Africa, its range extending from the central portion of 

 Somaliland southwards to the Tana River. It appears to be plentiful in the country between 

 Mount Kenia and Lake Rudolph, but has not, I believe, been met with to the west of that lake. 

 Full-grown specimens of Grevy's zebra will stand from 14^ to 15 hands at the shoulder, with a. 

 girth of body immediately behind the shoulders of nearly 5 feet. The arrangement of the stripes in 

 this species differs considerably both from that of the mountain-zebra of the Cape Colony and also- 

 from Burchell's zebra. The body-stripes are very narrow, numerous, and deep black in colour, 

 and are separated by equally narrow white bands. The longitudinal stripes on the haunches 

 are also shorter and finer than in any other species of zebra, and on the top of the centre of the 

 back from the neck to the tail. The belly and insides of the thighs are white, and the legs banded 

 right down to the hoofs as in the mountain-zebra, and the ears are as large as in that species. 



