Wildlife Safari Africa
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African Safari, Zebra

Zebra come in two varieties, and I don't mean black and white and white and black. I mean Burchells and Grevy's. The first two pictures are Burchells Zebra, also known as a Plains or Common Zebra.

The noticable brown colouring on the Burchells zebra in the second picture indicates females. The males are pure black and white.

The next two pictures are the Grevy's Zebra, taken in Samburu National Park. Much the nicer looking, it is quite noticably larger, its stripes are narrower and tighter. The stripes of the Grevy's Zebra stop short of its white belly, whilst those of the Burchells go right under the belly.

Grevy's have distinctively larger ears and the stripes on their rump form a circular target on their rumps, unlike the Burchells.

OK, so now you've got it. You know how to recognise Grevys from Burchells, male from female, so what is the last picture?

Black and white stripes, not circular around the rump, stripes go under the belly. Must be Burchells, right?

Well sort of. Look carefully and you will see faint brown stripes between the black and white.

This is a Boehm's Zebra, actually a sub species of Burchells. Mostly in the south of Kenya, this pair were actually photographed at Sweetwater.

For me, Sweetwater was the best Kenya Safari destination, equal with Amboseli National Park and Masai Mara.

 

burchells zebra
Burchells Zebra Amboseli
Grevys zebra samburu
Grevys Zebra Samburu
Grevys Zebra Impala samburu
sweetwater zebra
All images Copyright Avery Little