Mountain Zebra

Beauty Of Animal | Mountain Zebra | The Mountain Zebra, Equus zebra, is a threatened species of equid native to south-western Angola, Namibia and South Africa. It has two subspecies, the Cape Mountain Zebra (E. z. zebra) and Hartmann's Mountain Zebra (E. z. hartmannae), though it has been suggested these should be considered separate species. In 2004, C.P. Groves and C.H. Bell investigated the taxonomy of the zebras (genus Equus, subgenus Hippotigris). They concluded that the Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra zebra) and Hartmann's Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra hartmannea) are distinct, and suggested that the two would be better classified as separate species, Equus zebra and Equus hartmannae.

However, in a sexual genetic study which included 295 mountain zebra specimens, Moodley and Harley (2005) found no genetic evidence to regard the two Mountain zebra taxa as anything more than different populations of a single species. They concluded that the Cape Mountain Zebra and Hartmann's Mountain Zebra should remain as subspecies. The third edition of Mammal Species of the World (2005) lists the Mountain zebra as a single species (Equus zebra) with two subspecies

Like all zebras, it is boldly striped in black and white and no two individuals look exactly alike. The stripe can be black and white or dark brown and white. Their stripes cover their whole bodies except for their bellies. The Mountain zebra also has a dewlap. Adult mountain zebras have a body length of about 2.2 metres (7 ft 3 in). Shoulder height ranges from 1 to 1.4 metres (10 to 14 h)(3 ft 4 in to 4 ft 7 in). They typically weigh from 240 to 370 kilograms (530 to 820 lb). Groves and Bell found that the Cape mountain zebra exhibits, with larger females than males, while the Hartmann's mountain zebra does not. The black stripes of Hartmann's mountain zebra are thin with much wider white interspaces, while this is the opposite in Cape mountain zebra.

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