XII 
THE FAUNA OF SOMALILAND 
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Grevy’s Zebra ( Equus grevyi) 
Somali name, Fer’o 
Grevy’s zebra, described, I believe, by the French from a 
zoological garden specimen, was first shot in Somaliland by 
Colonel Paget and myself on our simultaneous expeditions early 
in 1893. I found these animals at Durhi, in Central OgAden, 
between the Tug FAfan and the Webbe, about three hundred 
miles inland from Berbera, and shot seven specimens, all of 
which were eaten by myself and my thirty followers ; in fact, 
for many days we had no other food, although this was no hard- 
ship, for the meat is better than that of most of the antelopes, 
and is highly prized by the Per AmMen and Malingiir tribes. 
The zebra was very common in the territory of these two tribes. 
The country is covered with scattered bush over its entire 
surface, and is stony and much broken up by ravines ; the 
general elevation being about two thousand five hundred feet 
above sea-level. Those which I saw (probably not more than 
two hundred in all) were met with in small droves of about 
half a dozen, on low plateaux covered with scattered thorn-bush 
and glades of durr grass, the soil being powdery, and red in 
colour, with an occasional outcrop of rocks. In such country 
they are easy to stalk, and I should never have fired at them 
for sport alone. I saw none in the open flats of the Webbe 
Valley, and they never come nearly so far north as the open 
grass plains of the Haud, Durhi south of the FAfan being, I 
think, their northern limit. The young have longer coats, and 
the stripes are rather lighter brown, turning later on to a deep 
chocolate, which is nearly black in adult animals. 
Zebras are very inquisitive ; when we were encamped for some 
days at Eil-Fud, in the Per Amaden country, they used to come 
at night and bray and stamp round our camp, and w r ere answered 
by my Abyssinian mule. The sounds made by the two animals 
are somewhat similar. 
Wild Ass (Equus asinus somalicus) 
Native name, Gumburi 
The wild ass is common in sterile parts of Guban, especially 
to the east of Berbera. In OgAden its place is taken by the 
zebra. It is a fine animal and has striped legs. It can scarcely 
be considered as fair game to the sportsman. 
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