Steppe zebra

Steppe zebra

We would like to congratulate Petra and Torsten Janßen with Sophia and thank them for once again taking on a sponsorship!

The plains zebra(Equus quagga) lives in East and South Africa and, with an estimated 500,000 individuals, is the most common of the three zebra species. However, population numbers have declined by 25% in the last 15 years and the vast majority of animals now live in protected areas. Traditionally, six subspecies of plains zebra have been differentiated according to body size and stripe pattern. The northern plains zebras are smaller and have rather broad white stripes, the southern plains zebras are larger, have fewer and narrower white stripes and so-called "shadow stripes" appear - yellowish-grey stripes in the white stripes. However, these differences are gradual; genetic studies have shown that all plains zebras - including the extinct quagga - belong to the same species.