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Most of you know by now that my favorite animal is the zebra, and if you’re new to Wavy Lines (*waves to new blog buddies!*), then I’m sure you figured that out from my blog’s theme. I’ve been collecting zebra things since I was at least seven years old, and I have many many many items that are zebra-striped or have zebras on them. They’re exquisite animals, and I hope after I share these ten fascinating facts, you’ll think zebras are amazing, too!
• Zebras DO NOT sound like horses. When I was in Disney World six years ago, I picked up an adorable zebra stuffed animal that made sound when you squeezed it–except it whinnied like a horse. I was disgusted with Disney, especially since in Disney’s The Lion King, the zebra sounds are correct! So I refused to buy the oh-so-wrong stuffed animal. I describe zebra sounds as a chirping bark. (Watch the beginning of The Lion King or the movie Racing Stripes to hear true zebra sounds or listen here: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/zebra/)
• Each zebra has its own unique stripes pattern—just like human fingerprints and snowflakes do! They may look the same, but no two zebras are ever identical.
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• Zebras take dust or mud baths to get clean. They shake the dirt off to get rid of loose hair and flaky skin. What's left protects them from sun, wind, and insects.
• Zebras smile! It looks like a bared-teeth grimace to us, but to zebras it’s a friendly greeting.
• Zebras are smart and fast! There are a lot of predators to watch out for–hyenas, lions, leopards, wild dogs, crocodiles–but zebras have excellent hearing and smell, and their eyesight is as good as a cat or owl at night. When running from a predator, zebras zigzag from side to side up to speeds of 35 mph. If it can get away within the first 100 yards, the zebra is usually safe!
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• A zebra’s gestation period is 12-14 months and it gives birth to only one baby at a time. Baby zebras are born with brown stripes that darken to black as they get older. A newborn foal can stand up on its own soon after birth and can run fast enough to keep up with the herd within the hour!
• So what’s up with those awesome stripes anyway? When zebras are in a tight group, it may act as camouflage by confusing predators and making it difficult to select one zebra to chase. Is a zebra white with black stripes or black with white stripes? If you look at a zebra, its belly is mostly white and then the black stripes begin, right? But zebras have black skin underneath all that white hair. So I guess the answer is they are both!
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• Zebras are loyal and protective. They live in small family groups, or herds, of about fifteen. It usually consists of several females, their young, and one male who leads the herd and fathers the babies. If one zebra is missing from the herd, the zebras will search for it until it’s found.
• Today there are three species of zebras: Plains zebras reside on the open grasslands and desert edges of eastern Africa to southwestern Africa. Mountain zebras live in the stony mountains of southern Africa. Grevy’s zebras are found in the semi-deserts of northeast Africa. Two species of zebras–the quagga and Burchell’s–were extinct by the early twentieth century. The three species remaining today are endangered... :*(
What is your favorite animal? Why do you like it?
Have a wonderful week, Zigzaggers!!!
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44 comments:
I love giraffes the way you love zebras! :D
Hi Laura! Wonderful post to wrap up the A to Z Challenge. Thanks so much for sharing all those fascinating facts about zebras. It was a very interesting post.
Susanne
PUTTING WORDS DOWN ON PAPER
How did I know you'd choose zebra for this one! Love the pictures and the facts.
hahaha Laura--I just knew what your "Z" letter would be! GREAT post; I love zebras too. Glad to have met you during the Challenge--I'll keep reading!
Interesting "Z"ebra facts. My fav animal? Hmm? The jaguar.
Congratulations on making it all the way to the end of the challenge. Great Zebra facts. I was wondering about that zebra sound in the Lion King. Now I know, thanks.
My post was on Zoo and I have a photo of a Zebra in it.
Kathy at Oak Lawn Images
Congratulations on a wonderful A-to-Z blogathon!!! You did a fabulous job!
What's up with the Zebra is awesomeness.
Great Z post.
t
I knew this would be your favorite letter!!! Zebras are so cute and yet they're such magnificent animals. I had no idea they made a chirping bark sound. How closely related are they to horses? So cool that each one is unique!
Aww so cute! I could have guessed Zebra would be today's topic. :D I love how no two Zebras are exactly identical. And yet they're all so gorgeous.
Knew you would pick zebra for your Z post! Zebra tend to be everywhere in Africa, but they are endangered. If I remember right, they are more closely related to donkeys than horses.
My favorite animal is the tiger. Always loved cats.
I had no idea zebras were so fascinating! Thanks for sharing all that info.
My favorite animal - the tortoise. :)
I'm not sure I have a favorite animal, since I love just about all animals but squirrels. Some of the ones I'm more partial to than others are spiders, horses, monkeys, and rabbits.
Yay, I love Zebras! Didn't know about the gestational thing though - I could barely stand 9 months. LOL.
Great challenge!
Wow - that's a lot of facts about zebras! I'd never considered what sound they make actually, but I knew that the stripes were unique.
I didn't know that about zebras, especially the sound it makes and the color of the skin. Cool!
I read the idea you put on my blog. I was thinking of extending the stories and creating a collection of shorts. You've been awesome at coming up with the answers to my stories. Because you have been one of the top five this month, I'm going to be sending you a gift card for amazon. Congrats!
OMG that baby one is so cute! They certainly are beautiful animals.
That's hilarious about you at Disney. LOL
Zebras are pretty cool!!
A perfect finish to the challenge and thanks for all the zebra facts. I always enjoy learning something new.
This was wonderful. I didn't know anything about zebras so you've taught me a lot. :) Can't say that I have a favorite animal. God made them one and all so ... they're all special!
Thanks for such a fun, informative post. I blogged about Zig Zagging but it has nothing to do with zebras. :)
What a great ending to your A-Z. Loved it!
So your end post wasn't a surprise- but it was a delight! :-)
Fascinating facts! I didn't know any of those things. I can't believe how long the gestation period is, and then to only give birth to one baby? Wow! I like the idea of each zebras stripes being unique, that's really cool. My favorite animals are penguins - especially emperor penguins - and owls.
Great post! Lots of things I didn't know :)
Yay for Zebras! I love the cute cartoon Zebra in the A to Z banner. Thanks for sharing Zebra facts!
Zebras are cool. Sad that they're endangered.
Thanks for sharing these facts about the animal you love! I learned a lot!
Zebras are awesome, and how incredibly cute is that baby!? :) I am surprised that a zebra's gestation period is longer than a horse's - seems like it would be the same or shorter! Congrats on a perfect finish to A to Z!
I very much enjoyed your blogging. This was my first time doing the challenge and I had a great time. Hope you did too! Visit sometime. Www.dianeweidenbenner.com
Awesome info on zebras. And what beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Such a great post, I learned a lot :D
Thank you for your kind words. It means a lot.
As a kid, I was fascinated with Zebras. I would spend the longest time in a zoo staring at these tall creatures.
This was so fun! My kiddos and I read it over breakfast this morning!
Thanks :-D
Impressive data on the zebra. Didn't know they could run that fast just after birth. Not sure what my favourite animal is. If it has to do with a cute factor, then I guess it would be the Panda.
I love zebras! Well done on finishing the A-Z - I stopped at "S" because I went away :-(
Hello, everyone!!! I'm glad this post taught you something new about zebras!! Aren't they fascinating?!
Hello and welcome to Wavy Lines to my new followers *waves boisterously* and thank you so much to all of you who have stopped by and commented!! I can't believe the A to Z Blogging Challenge is over already. I hope you all had as much fun as I did!!
Have a wonderful week, Zigzaggers!!
Love,
Laura
Zebras are fascinating. Thanks for these facts about them. And isn't it great to finally be at Z??!!
Yay for zebras! There is no doubt that zebras are cool. I've always been partial to the apes and to the large cat predators.
Shannon at The Warrior Muse, co-host of the 2012 #atozchallenge! Twitter: @AprilA2Z
Hi Laura .. excellent Z post - I love zebras .. but my favourite are warthogs - the radar animal .. with an antenna tail. Just love watching them ..
Cheers Hilary
I would have never dreamed that you liked zebras :)
I guess I kind of like birds.
Congratulations on making it through the A to Z Challenge. Join us on May 7th with your Challenge Reflections post.
Lee
A Faraway View
An A to Z Co-host blog
Karen- Yes, it sure was! The A to Z Blogging Challenge is always fun, but I'm glad when it's over. :)
Shannon- Hello and welcome to Wavy Lines! Apes and large cats are awesome animals, too... except when the large cats are chasing my zebras! :) Thank you for stopping by and commenting!!
Hilary- Hello and welcome to Wavy Lines! Heehee, warthogs are fun! Thank you for stopping by and commenting and I appreciate the follow!!
Lee- I know, right? Everyone is shocked by my favorite animal choice. ;) Thanks for all of your hard work throughout this A to Z Blogging Challenge. It was a fun month!!
Bad Disney!!! I think they should compensate by doing a movie with zebras as the main characters. Madagascar was fun but not enough Zebras for me!
Margo- I agree!! That would be awesome. Have you seen the movie Racing Stripes? It reminds me of the movie Babe, but with a zebra!! It's really cute.
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