Razzle Dazzle Horses

Early European explorers to South Africa encountered the local wild horses: the Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra zebra), the Quagga (Equus quagga quagga) and the Plains Zebras (Equus quagga burchellii and chapmanii). To differentiate between these animals the explorers seem to have used the terms “Wilde Paard” for the Mountain Zebra, “Sebra” for the Plains Zebra and the “Quagga” retained its original, onomatopoeic Khoekhoe name.

This differentiation can still be found in historic local place names such as Paardeberg, Paardekraal, Quaggasfontein, etc.

Zebras are actual horses, as their genus epithet indicates, and contrary to popular belief, they have been domesticated to pull wagons and coaches, albeit with difficulty. For example, the Zeederberg Coach Company once had a team of zebras pulling one of their stagecoaches.

Standing at 13,5 hands high, zebras are the size of ponies. However, unlike domestic horses and ponies, zebras have not undergone 2 000 years of domestication, strengthening their backs and legs. As a result, they do not make good riding ponies. As wild animals, they are prone to aggression as they have to fight for dominance within their social groups and against potential threats, making them unsuitable as companions.

Historically, the Swartland area of the Cape was home to two zebra species:

The Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra zebra) is the smallest and the most geographically restricted of all existing zebra species. This zebra has historically inhabited the mountainous regions of the Western and Eastern Cape. Although once nearly driven to extinction, conservation efforts have helped increase the population, but it is still classified as vulnerable.

Visually, it has narrower stripes and lacks the brownish “shadow stripes” found in the Plains Zebra. Its stripes continue down to the hooves, but not on the belly, which is white.

The Quagga (Equus quagga quagga) was distinguished from other zebras by its limited pattern of primarily brown and white stripes, mainly on the front part of the body. Unfortunately, the Quagga was extensively hunted and became extinct in the wild by 1878. The last captive specimen died in Amsterdam on 12 August 1883.

The most common of the zebra species, the Plains Zebra, (Equus quagga chapmanii) is a subspecies of the Quagga, with more defined striping. Historically, it was only found north of the Gariep River but has since been translocated to farms and reserves across the country. While often referred to as the Burchell’s Zebra, this is inaccurate, as the Burchell’s strain is now extinct.

The age-old question of why, unlike other horses, zebras have stripes, has several answers:

  1. The stripes act as a barcode. Each zebra’s striping pattern is unique to the individual zebra and may act as a recognition pattern.
  2. The stripes help break up the zebra’s outlines in a herd. When attacked by predators, zebras bunch together and the striping blends one animal’s form into another and as predators will only attack an individual, this may confuse the predator.
  3. The stripes help camouflage the animals into the background under low-light conditions when predators are most active.
  4. The striping is a deterrent to biting flies as most of these in Africa prefer large dark animals to striped ones. Possibly, the Quagga had fewer stripes as the Cape had fewer biting flies.
  5. When heated, the alternately black and white bars create varied air currents over the skin, perhaps acting as a built-in natural air conditioner.
  6. Lastly, they would just look silly with polka dots!

In today’s world, not much is definitively black and white—except for zebras, of course.