The Half & Half Zebra

The Plains (or Common) zebra is the third of the three zebras species we'll look at.

This zebra lives in large herds and has six subspecies. Its ears are normal-sized compared to the Grevy's zebra.  Let's look at three simple IKs and the corresponding photos:

They can look very different in color and stripe pattern, but their stripes always meet in the center of their bellies. The following photos are all of different subspecies of the Plains zebra:

1st IK*: Overall broad stripes

2nd IK: Broad pattern of stripes on flank are horizontal and change to vertical halfway across the zebras body...about mid-belly.  Has underbelly stripes.

3rd IK: Back stripe down back and into tail, surrounded by broad rump stripes.

These IKs will soon have you able to choose the Plains zebra out of a whole herd! Stay tuned for my next post which will test your knowledge of all three zebras.


And check out my zebra painting "Zebra Story"; it was awarded first place in the last art show.

*Identification Key, or IKs, as seen and described in the photos. (More about identification keys here.)