Grevy's zebra

Appearance

The muzzle is ash-grey to black in colour, and the lips are whiskered. As with all zebra species, Grévy's zebra's pelage has a black and white striping pattern. The belly and the area around the base of the tail lack stripes and are just white in color, that is unique to the Grévy's zebra.

It is 2.5–2.75 m (8.2–9.0 ft) in head-body length, with a tail 55–75 cm (1.80–2.46 ft) long, stands 1.45–1.6 m (4.8–5.2 ft) high at the withers, and weighs 350–450 kg (770–990 lb). The mane is tall and erect. Juveniles have a mane that extends to the length of the back and shortens as they reach adulthood.

Published measurements include mass about 40.

Range and habitat

Grévy's zebra largely inhabits northern Kenya, with some isolated populations in Ethiopia. Grévy's zebra, also known commonly as the imperial zebra, is the largest living species of wild equid and the most threatened of the three species of zebras, the other two being the plains zebra and the mountain zebra. Named after French president Jules Grévy, it is found in parts of Kenya and Ethiopia.

In Ethiopia, the protected areas include Aledeghi Wildlife Reserve, Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary, Borana National Park, and Chelbi Sanctuary. In Kenya, important protected areas include the Buffalo Springs, Samburu and Shaba National Reserves and the private and community land wildlife conservancies in Isiolo, Samburu and the Laikipia Plateau.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Breeding

Grévy's zebras can mate and give birth year round, but most mating takes place in the early rainy seasons and births mostly take place in August or September after the long rains. An oestrous mare may visit as many as four territories a day and will mate with the stallions in them.

The resident stallions of territories will try to subdue the entering mares with dominance rituals and then continue with courtship and copulation. This is a useful adaptation for a species whose mares mate polyandrously.

In crisis

Despite a handful of zoos and animal parks around the world having had successful captive-breeding programs, in its native home this zebra is listed by the IUCN as endangered. Its population has declined from 15,000 to 2,000 since the 1970s. In 2016, the population was reported to be "stable". Even so, as of 2020, the wild numbers are still estimated at only around 2,250 animals, in part due to anthrax outbreaks in eastern Africa.

The Grévy's zebra is considered endangered. Its population was estimated to be 15,000 in the 1970s and by the early 21st century the population was lower than 3,500, a 75% decline.

CITES lists this taxon on Appendix I. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.

Grevy's zebra is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Grévy's zebra, Wikidata item Q219565. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.