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Zebras have a less efficient digestive system than ruminants but food passage is twice as fast. [15] Thus, zebras are less selective in foraging, but they do spend much time eating. The zebra is a pioneer grazer and prepares the way for more specialised grazers such as blue wildebeests and Thomson's gazelles. [9] Lions feeding on a zebra
Zebras have been kept in captivity since at least the Roman Empire. In later times, captive zebras have been shipped around the world, often for diplomatic reasons. In 1261, Sultan Baibars of Egypt established an embassy with Alfonso X of Castile and sent a zebra and other exotic animals as gifts.
Crepuscular, a classification of animals that are active primarily during twilight, making them similar to nocturnal animals. Diurnality, plant or animal behavior characterized by activity during the day and sleeping at night. Cathemeral, a classification of organisms with sporadic and random intervals of activity during the day or night.
The distinction is not absolute, because crepuscular animals may also be active on a bright moonlit night or on a dull day. Some animals casually described as nocturnal are in fact crepuscular. [2] Special classes of crepuscular behaviour include matutinal, or "matinal", animals active only in the dawn, and vespertine, only in the dusk.
Insects such as crickets (family Gryllidae) are well known for their ability to produce loud song, however the mechanism of sound production differs greatly from most other animals. Many insects generate sound by mechanical rubbing of body structures, a mechanism known as stridulation . [ 14 ]
Theories suggested the stripes helped them camouflage, or served as identity name tags for zebras to recognize each other. But newer research suggests the stripes help them repel those pesky horse ...
Mountain zebras live in hot, dry, rocky, mountainous and hilly habitats. They prefer slopes and plateaus as high as 2,000 m (6,600 ft) above sea level, although they do migrate lower during winter. Their preferred diet is tufted grass, but in times of shortage, they browse, eating bark, twigs, leaves, buds, fruit, and roots. They drink every day.
Grant’s zebras eat the coarse grasses that grow on the African plains, and they are resistant to diseases that often kill cattle, [5] so the zebras do well in the African savannas. However, recent civil wars and political conflicts in the African countries near their habitats has caused regional extinction, and sometimes zebras are killed for ...