Watch Tim draw a zebra and listen to how Zebras got their name, why they have stripes, and why they are born to run.
The ancient Romans were fascinated by the striped wild horses of Africa and called them Hippo –Tigris. The name Zebra comes from Italian and dates back to around 1600. No two zebras have exactly the same stripes! It is like their fingerprint Scientists believe that Zebras have black and white stripes in order to confuse the eyes of blood-sucking horse flies. They discovered that the striped Zebra pattern attracts the least number of flies of all animal kingdom colors.
Zebras belong to the horse family, They have excellent eyesight and hearing, live to be about 25 years old, and they can run at speeds of 40 miles an hour that’s 65 Km/hr. Zebras are social animals that spend most of their time grazing together in large herds. They have family units and even groom one another. Newborn baby zebras can run on their own just one hour after they are born! Its a good thing to be a born runner when you are surrounded by hungry lions.