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Zebra - Equus burchelli
The Burchell's Zebra grazes
two-thirds of the day on red oat grass, leaves, bark, roots and
stems. Excellent hearing and vision help a zebra to keep alert for
predators like lions and hyenas. Zebras stay in family groups of
a stallion, or male, and several mares, but different families will
come together in huge herds of hundreds of zebras. Herds will mingle
with wildebeests, ostriches, and antelope while they graze, and
even come to depend on them as additional protection against predators!
Zebras are always busy and alert, and very noisy. Impressive annual
migrations occur between Linyanti (winter) through Savuti to Mababe
(summer) where they normally foal and from Nxai Pan (summer) to
Makgadikgadi (winter). Numbers in the southern migration were badly
affected by the drought of the 1980's from which they have not yet
recovered. Nevertheless, the sight of thousands of migrating zebra
on the flat grasslands of Savuti or the Makgadikgadi is a spectacular
sight.
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