Are Zebras Horses?

Many people think that zebras are just wild horses with stripes. However, many people don’t realize the differences between a horse and a zebra. Horses and zebras are both unique animals with their own personalities.

Are Zebras Horses?

Though they have similarities, a zebra is not the same thing as a horse. Both zebras and horses belong to the Equidae family, but they are different species. In fact, there are three different species of zebra: plains, mountain and Grevy’s.

Zebras are native to the plains of Africa. Just like horses, zebras are herd animals and spend most of their day grazing. They are social animals, often living in family groups.

A Zebra’s unique black and white striped coat pattern is thought to be a natural defence against predators. When a bunch of zebras are together, their striped coat pattern makes it difficult for predators to pick out an individual zebra.

Visually, the main difference between a horse and zebras is their appearance. Zebras have a black and white striped coat wheres horses tend to have a one-colour coat. Horses and zebras are different species. Additionally, due to selective breeding, horses are much easier to ride and are more tamed than zebras.

Zebra and Horse – A bit similar?

It’s hard to ignore how similar zebras are in comparison to horses. They’re actually both from the same species family and genus, however, you can only find the Zebra in Africa. The most obvious difference are the Zebra’s black and white stripes Aside from location and stripes, but there are many more factors that may set them apart.

Size and Build

Horses are generally larger than zebras. Zebras range in height from about 1.2 to 1.5 meters, whereas a horse can generally grow to about 1.8 meters. In terms of build, zebras more closely resemble donkeys than horses in conformation. Their ears are long like a donkey’s.

Mane, Muzzle, & Tail hairs

Horses have a more prominent mane compared to zebras. Zebra manes usually grow very short so they never have a chance to fall to one side. In addition, a horses tail hairs originate from the base of its tail, but a zebra’s tail hairs originate from the distal half of the tail. The colour of muzzle is always black in zebras, while it is can be either pink, or brown, or black in horses.

Domestication

Horses are easier to train and well domesticated, whereas zebras are very hard to train and less domesticated. Even feral horses that have spent years living on the range can be domesticated if given a patient and forgiving trainer. But, outside of a few instances using questionable training methods, zebras will not have anything to do with pulling a carriage or letting someone ride them.

In the equine family, the zebra falls between the horse and the donkey and share some similarities with both. But the zebra has have remained wild while the horse and the donkey are largely domesticated. The zebra remains the most populous of the wild equines and looks likely to remain that way, as both the wild ass and the Przewalski's wild horse are endangered.

Color

The most obvious difference between a horse and a zebra is coloration. Horses come in many colors, and some in patterns with spots and blotches, but all zebras are black-and-white striped. The pattern, natural camouflage, is unique to each individual, as fingerprints are to humans. When the plains zebra (Equus quagga) stands still in the tall grass of the African savanna, his broad vertical striping blends in with the grass stems and renders him almost invisible to a predator. When he's in motion with the herd, fleeing from a lion, all those moving stripes create a wavering, shifting moiré effect and turn each individual into part of one big fuzzy blob, making it hard for a big cat to single out any one zebra from the rest.

Body

Most horses' legs are longer than their bodies are tall, while zebras' legs are about the same length as their body height. This makes the zebra slower than the horse but still fast enough to outdistance a lion over the long haul. His mane and tail are more donkeylike, with the one being stiff and upstanding rather than long and flowing, and the other having a tuft at the end instead of being fully haired from the base.

Feet

Zebra hooves tend to be harder than horse hooves, smaller and more oval in shape, with a wider heel and more open frog. In the mountain zebra' (Equus zebra), the hooves are almost pointed, appropriate for their rocky and more difficult terrain.

Sound

The zebra has a vocabulary of noises equal to those of the horse and the donkey, including the whinny, the bray, the snort and the snuffle; but the zebra also has a unique vocalization called a bark. This is a high-pitched, two-part, almost yipping sound, almost like that of a small dog. It is frequently heard as an alarm call. Uttered when stampeding, it alerts nearby zebras and other grazers like the wildebeests to the presence of a predator. If a family band is separated, it can also be an identification call to make contact with other members